2.11.2022
NASA predicts first Starship orbital launch as soon as December
A fully stacked Starship vehicle on the pad at Boca Chica, Texas, earlier this year. NASA expects SpaceX to be ready to attempt an orbital launch of the vehicle as soon as early December. Credit: SpaceX
WASHINGTON — NASA expects SpaceX to be ready to attempt a first orbital flight of its Starship vehicle, an essential element in the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration plans, as soon as early December, pending tests and regulatory approvals.
Speaking to the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee Oc. 31, Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for Artemis Campaign Development at NASA, said the agency’s understanding of progress on testing of the Starship vehicle, including its Super Heavy booster, supported an orbital launch attempt late this year.
“Right now, the schedule would lead to an early December test flight,” he said. The profile for that test flight would be the same as the company previously detailed in regulatory filings, with the Super Heavy booster and Starship lifting off from the Boca Chica, Texas, test site. Starship would go into orbit but almost immediately reenter, splashing down near Hawaii after completing less than one orbit.
That schedule is dependent on several upcoming milestones, including a static-fire test of all 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster designated Booster 7. SpaceX has yet to fire all 33 Raptor engines simultaneously, having done tests of up to seven engines at a time as well as a “spin prime” test where the engines’ turbopumps are turned on and propellant flowed through the engines without igniting them.
It was during a spin prime test July 11 that SpaceX suffered what NASA euphemistically calls a “high-energy event” when propellants ignited underneath the booster, damaging it. SpaceX has repaired the booster and implemented corrective actions, according to the agency.
Kirasich said that test put “a relatively large amount of fuel” into a cloud of oxygen, triggering the detonation. “That was an operational and planning oversight. SpaceX, in the early days, goes for speed above systems engineering rigor,” he said, calling it a “pause and learn” event for SpaceX.
“They’ve since elevated the level of systems engineering put into each one of these tests, as well as brought in some new leadership into the team down there,” he said, resulting in “additional rigor” in subsequent tests.
That incident also attracted the attention of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. A member of the panel, Paul Hill, mentioned it at the panel’s Oct. 27 public meeting. “SpaceX is still pursuing an aggressive Starship development test plan, but this failure resulted in corrective actions to increase systems engineering and risk management rigor,” he said.
Kirasich said there are still several milestones before Starship will be ready for an orbital launch. That includes the static-fire test of all 33 Raptor engines in Super Heavy as well as a full wet dress rehearsal where the Starship and Super Heavy vehicles are loaded with propellants and go through a practice countdown.
SpaceX also requires a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration for the mission. While the FAA cleared the way for Starship launches from Boca Chica with an environmental review in June, that review required SpaceX to implement more than 75 measures to mitigate the environmental effects of those launches. That licensing “is still ahead of us,” Kirasich said.
NASA is closely following preparations for the first Starship orbital launch because the agency sees it as the first in a series of tests of a vehicle the agency plans to use to land astronauts on the moon on Artemis 3 through its Human Landing System contract with SpaceX.
“We track four major Starship flights,” Kirasich said, starting with the first orbital launch. That’s followed by one to test propellant transfer in space, which is needed to refuel the Starship lunar lander, and a “longer duration” Starship mission, details of which he did not discuss. The fourth mission is the uncrewed lunar landing demonstration mission scheduled for late 2024.
He said those four tests were evenly spaced in the schedule back when the orbital launch was scheduled for this summer. “SpaceX has lost a number of months” because of the delays in that first orbital launch, he said, but didn’t state how it would affect the schedule of the latest tests the agency is following.
Quelle: SN
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Update: 16.11.2022
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SpaceX’s Starship briefly becomes the most powerful active rocket in the world
A SpaceX Starship booster has successfully fired up 14 of its 33 Raptor engines, likely becoming the most powerful active rocket in the world.
Throughout the history of spaceflight, only three or four other rockets have produced as much or more thrust than Super Heavy Booster 7 (B7) could have theoretically produced on November 14th. But the Soviet Energia and N1 rockets and the US Saturn V and Space Shuttle were all retired one or several decades ago. Only SpaceX’s own Falcon Heavy rocket, fifth on the bracket and capable of producing up to 2325 tons (5.13 million pounds) of thrust at sea level, is still operational and comes close.
Powered by 33 upgraded Raptor 2 engines that SpaceX says can produce up to 230 tons (~510,000 lbf) each, Super Heavy could have produced up to 3220 tons (7.1 million pounds) of thrust when it ignited 14 of its engines earlier today. That likely means that Starship is now the fourth most powerful rocket ever tested, slotting in above NASA’s Space Shuttle but below the Soviet Energia. And even if all 14 engines never throttled above 73%, SpaceX’s Starship booster likely still produced more thrust than any other active rocket in the world, beating Falcon Heavy. But if NASA has its way, Starship could hold that title for less than 36 hours.
As early as 1:04 am EDT (06:04 UTC) on November 16th, a little over 35 hours after SpaceX’s record-breaking Starship static fire, NASA will attempt to launch its massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the third time since late August. At the explicit request of Congress, which wanted to preserve Shuttle jobs after the end of the program in 2011, SLS essentially shuffles around Space Shuttle parts and replaces the reusable orbiter with a fully-expendable rocket. The Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) have been extended and uprated, and the orange External Tank has been stretched and turned into a liquid rocket booster affixed with four RS-25 engines to the Shuttle’s three.
If things go according to plan, those changes mean that SLS rocket will produce up to 3990 tons (8.8 million pounds) of thrust when it lifts off for the first time, overtaking Super Heavy B7 but also making it the second most powerful launch vehicle in history after the Soviet N1. N1 never succeeded, however, so SLS could become the most powerful rocket ever to reach orbit if its first launch is successful.
But just as SLS appears poised to almost immediately unseat Starship’s position as the most powerful active rocket in the world, Starship is poised to beat SLS to become the most powerful rocket ever flown – successfully or not – when it attempts its first orbital launch either next month or early next year. With all 33 Raptors at full throttle, Starship can produce almost 7600 tons (16.7 million pounds) of thrust at liftoff, beating the previous record-holder – the Soviet N1 rocket – by nearly 60%.
Even if that first launch attempt is unsuccessful, SpaceX appears to be preparing for several more rapid-fire launches that will continue until success is achieved, beating SLS’ other (potential) record. SpaceX has demonstrated that ability once before with Starship when it completed five flights of five different prototypes in less than six months. As a result, it’s likely that by the time SLS launches a second time in the mid-2020s, it will be the third most powerful rocket, second to N1 and Starship.
That slightly awkward upset should be lessened by the fact that Starship and SLS are, for the time being, both integral parts of NASA’s Artemis Program. To return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, SLS and its Orion spacecraft will transport NASA astronauts to lunar orbit, where they’ll board a Starship-derived Moon lander. Starship will then land those astronauts on the lunar surface, support about a week of surface operations, and then return them to lunar orbit, where Orion will transport them back to Earth.
For now, a massive amount of work remains to be done before NASA and SpaceX will be ready to support that crewed Moon landing. But Monday’s Starship static fire and Wednesday’s potential SLS launch both represent significant, tangible steps towards that lofty goal.
SpaceX fires 11 engines of Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of test flight
SpaceX is prepping Booster 7 for an orbital test flight.
SpaceX continues to prep its Starship Mars rocket for its first-ever orbital test flight, which could be coming soon.
During a "static fire" test today (Nov. 29) at its South Texas facility, SpaceX ignited multiple Raptor engines on Booster 7, a prototype of Starship's first-stage Super Heavy rocket.
The static fire occurred at 2:42 p.m. EST (1942 GMT) and lasted for 13 seconds. Video captured by NASASpaceFlight(opens in new tab) and Rocket Ranch Boca Chica(opens in new tab) showed the test to be a powerful one, suggesting it involved a healthy proportion of Booster 7's 33 Raptors. That turned out to be the case; shortly after the test, SpaceX confirmed via Twitter(opens in new tab) that Booster 7 lit up 11 of its engines.
Wednesday's test was the first static fire for Booster 7 since Nov. 14, when the huge vehicle lit up 14 Raptors.
Shortly after that trial, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said that the company planned to perform just one or two more static fires(opens in new tab) with Booster 7 before launching an orbital test flight — the first ever for the Starship program.
That orbital mission will likely employ Booster 7 and Ship 24, a prototype of Starship's 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper stage. The upper stage is powered by six Raptors; Ship 24 has already ignited all of its engines, during a Sept. 8 static fire.
A successful orbital flight will make Starship the most powerful rocket ever to fly. That title is currently held by NASA's Space Launch System megarocket, which debuted on Nov. 16, kicking off the agency's Artemis 1 mission.
SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and cargo to the moon and Mars. NASA is already a customer; the agency selected the huge vehicle to make at least two crewed moon landings for its Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:35 p.m. EST to state that SpaceX confirmed that 11 Raptors were involved in the static fire.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 10.12.2022
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Japanese billionaire unveils the 8 artists he'll fly to the moon on SpaceX's Starship dearMoon flight
The creator of 'Everyday Astronaut' is among the eight.
A Japanese billionaire picked his crewmates for the first-ever artist-centered mission.
Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune as an online fashion retailer, announced the eight people who would be flying with him on the dearMoon mission, which aims to use a SpaceX Starship to fly around the moonas soon as next year.
"I hope each and every one will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, travelling to the moon and back," Maezawa says in the video in Japanese, with a translation provided in-video.
he crew of Yusaku Maezawa's (center) dearMoon mission around the moon on a SpaceX Starship rocket. (Image credit: dearMoon)
The previously-announced 2023 launch date may push back substantially, however, as Starship has not yet been approved for an orbital journey around Earth, let alone a flight to the moon.
The spaceship has been grounded for more than 18 months as SpaceX awaits approval from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding environmental assessment requirements at its Starbase launch location in South Texas.
Riding along with Maezawa will be:
- Steve Aoki, D.J., producer and electronic dance music artist with several Billboard-charting studio albums;
- Tim Dodd, YouTube creator of the "Everyday Astronaut" channel (Dodd has interviewed SpaceX founder Elon Musk multiple times on camera);
- Yemi A.D., artist and choreographer known for his work with JAD Dance Company and with Ye (formerly Kanye West);
- Karim Iliya, photographer whose publications include National Geographic Magazine;
- Rhiannon Adam, a photographer who has been supported by the BBC/Royal Geographical Society and won multiple awards, according to their website(opens in new tab);
- Brendan Hall, filmmaker on projects such as the two-hour documentary "Blood Sugar Rising" about diabetes in the United States, according to the Internet Movie Database(opens in new tab);
- Dev Joshi, an "Indian television actor known for portraying the role of Baal Veer in Sony Sab's Baal Veer and Baalveer Returns," according to the Internet Movie Database(opens in new tab);
- T.O.P., a South Korean rapper known as the lead for the boy band Big Bang;
- Two backup members: dancer Miyu, and snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington.
Each member of the dearMoon crew was briefly quoted in a video(opens in new tab) from the dearMoon YouTube channel, and the announcement was confirmed on Dodd's and Maezawa's Twitter feeds(opens in new tab).
"I don't know what it's going to do to me emotionally, and I guess that's part of the adventure," Dodd says in the video.
Adds Adam, "I expect that this mission will bring about many changes personally and professionally."
The video also includes several views of Starship under testing, including at least one of the static fires of the SpaceX system.
Maezawa's dearMoon project was announced in 2018 to bring astronauts to the moon, following a controversial "girlfriend contest" for a now-defunct space mission. Maezawa is underwriting the cost of the seats for the crew.
When the applications for dearMoon opened in August 2021, Maezawa did not specify what qualifications were required to join the mission.
In December of that year, the Japanese billionaire flew to the International Space Station on a short stint along with his his videographer, Yozo Hirano, and different Russian cosmonauts on a Soyuz spacecraft during launch and landing.
Starship has also been tasked with putting NASA astronauts on the moon during some Artemis program missions, and another billionaire (Dennis Tito) booked a seat in 2021 for himself and his wife Akiko on a future flight around the moon, on a mission for which other people will be announced.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 21.01.2023
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SpaceX to ship Starship ‘deluge’ hardware from Florida to Starbase
SpaceX appears to be preparing to ship a huge collection of hardware – including parts of a possible launch deluge system – from Florida to Texas.
Captured live by NASASpaceflight’s 24/7 Space Coast Live webcam, hardware began accumulating at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Turning Basin on January 12th. Within a few days, four midsize storage tanks, two or three large storage tanks, five high-pressure gas tanks, multiple sections of an apparent launch deluge system, and an unfinished Starship booster transport stand were all staged and ready for shipment. Save for implicit statements from reliable sources, there wasn’t an obvious guarantee that the hardware was all SpaceX’s or headed to the company’s Starbase, Texas factory and launch site.
But combined with the sheer volume of hardware and its privileged presence on NASA KSC property, the last part to arrive – the base of an unmistakable Starship (booster) transport stand – all but confirmed that the destination is Starbase. SpaceX has already shipped hardware from Florida to Starbase multiple times, including a trio of tanks sent in October 2022, which further increases the odds that everything visible is destined for Starbase.
It might also not be a coincidence that in its first attempt to build a Starship launch site at Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX installed four midsize tanks and plenty of high-pressure gas tanks at LC-39A. The resurgence of work on a totally different Starship pad design at 39A in late 2021 likely made that hardware redundant. It’s possible that the four smaller tanks set to be shipped to Starbase originated at 39A and are being moved in the hopes that they can be more useful elsewhere.
Additionally, satellite photos taken on January 3rd, 2023 and shared by Harry Stranger show a pair of larger tanks also sitting unused at Pad 39A. Ultimately, it’s almost certain that the delivery is SpaceX hardware bound for Starbase, Texas.
A DELUGE? UNDER MY STARSHIP?
The most interesting part of the shipment is arguably a group of giant metal tubes. Measuring several feet wide, dozens of feet long, and fitted with multiple outlets connected to the same giant pipe, the likeliest possible explanation is that the manifolds are part of a plan to upgrade SpaceX’s Texas Starship launch site with a deluge system.
Almost all rockets use some sort of deluge system to prevent their own exhaust from damaging or destroying themselves or their surroundings. A large volume of water sprayed into the space just below a rocket’s engines can prevent the immense acoustic energy (sound) they produce from wreaking havoc. A deluge also helps protect launch pad hardware by allowing some of the energy in the exhaust to boil and vaporize water instead of eating into concrete or steel. But CEO Elon Musk has infamously stated that SpaceX is intentionally attempting to build an orbital launch site without a deluge system for Starship, the most powerful rocket in history by a large margin.
That’s gone about as well as one might expect. Even Starship, which can produce about 18% as much thrust as Super Heavy, has repeatedly incinerated the concrete beneath its test stand, spreading molten debris for thousands of feet and starting major brush fires in a nature reserve. After every six-engine Starship static fire, SpaceX must painstakingly remove and replace all of the concrete beneath the test stand.
The problem is even more apparent at Starbase’s orbital launch mount, where SpaceX has begun to conduct Super Heavy booster static fire tests. Despite apparently using expensive high-temperature concrete, SpaceX has had to replace the concrete under the OLM after almost every Super Heavy static fire – a process that takes a week or two.
For the time being, Starbase’s environmental permit only allows up to five orbital launches per year, making lengthy post-launch repairs mostly inconsequential. But if SpaceX ever wants Starbase to rapidly launch multiple Starships back to back (essential for in-space refilling) or launch dozens of Starships per year, it’s become clear that a deluge system is likely essential.
STARSHIP’S FLORIDA DELUGE
Some part of SpaceX knows that. The design of Starship’s first Florida launch pad has already been upgraded to include a giant deluge ring embedded in the ground at the base of the mount. Unusual design aside, the structure is sized such that it’s almost certainly a high-flow deluge system capable of spraying thousands of gallons of water per second.
Three months later, SpaceX appears to be preparing to ship two giant deluge manifolds and some deluge plumbing from Florida to Starbase. If SpaceX intends to retrofit Starbase’s existing orbital launch site with a giant deluge system, the process would likely take months and render the pad more or less unusable from start to finish. Alternatively, Musk recently reported that SpaceX intends to build a “rocket test facility” at a separate property it purchased in South Texas. Located miles from the Starbase launch pad, the former gun range could potentially allow SpaceX to test Starships and Super Heavy boosters without disrupting orbital launch preparations and taking over Starbase’s only orbital launch mount.
Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the same site – currently used for storage and limited Starship tank testing – already hosts some smaller parts of a potential Starbase deluge system. Regardless, it’s clear that significant changes are coming to Starbase and its associated facilities.
Quelle: TESLARATI