NASA is “looking forward” to the next Starship test flight

Updated at 9pm Eastern with comments from Gerstenmaier.

WASHINGTON – As SpaceX prepares for a test flight of its Starship vehicle, NASA is watching closely as it waits for the company to reach the next steps in the development of a lunar lander vehicle.

SpaceX announced back in Oct. 7 that it was preparing to launch Starship on its fifth joint test flight as soon as Oct. 13, pending regulatory approval. The mission will be similar to the fourth mission in June, when the upper stage of the Starship will fly in a suborbital path looking for an explosion in the Indian Ocean.

The key difference, however, is that the Super Heavy booster will attempt to return the launch site to Starbase Boca Chica, Texas. That would allow the launch tower to “grab” the booster with mechanical arms and place it down on the launch mount. That’s an important part of SpaceX’s long-term plans to facilitate rapid re-use of the vehicle.

“Thousands of specific parameters for the vehicles and pads must be met before the attempt to return and hold the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy equipment in the booster and tower and a manual order from the Captain mission aircraft,” the company said. If those conditions are not met, the booster will fall into the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaking at the Oct. 9 of the National Committee for Vehicles for Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president for the construction and reliability of the flight, expressed the hope that the booster could make it back to catch with the launch tower. “We landed with an accuracy of half an inch in the ocean” on the previous flight, he said, “so we think we have a good chance of getting back to the tower.”

The timing of the launch came as a surprise to many, as the Space Shuttle Administration had previously informed SpaceX, and said publicly, that it would not be ready to issue a launch license until the end of November , refers to changes in mission status from previous flights. That drew criticism from the company and its chief executive, Elon Musk, as well as from industry groups and supporters in Congress.

An FAA official said in September that the Starship launch license schedule is driven by environmental testing, a process that requires coordination with other agencies. The FAA noted that SpaceX only provided information in mid-August about whether changes in flight conditions caused environmental impacts that “cover a larger area than previously assessed.”

“In mid-August, SpaceX provided new information for its proposed Starship/Super Heavy Flight 5 mission,” the FAA said in an Oct. 8. “The FAA continues to review this information. The FAA will make a licensing decision once SpaceX has met all licensing requirements.” Contrary to previous statements by the FAA, however, the latest it did not mention a late November schedule, or any date, for making a license decision.

Industry sources say the interagency review process has moved faster than expected, which could allow the licensing process to be completed by the end of the week. However, there is no guarantee that it will be ready in time to support the test start on Oct. 13.

Speaking at the Oct. 9 of the National Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Lori Glaze, deputy assistant director of NASA’s research department, said that the agency is “expecting” the Starship flight, adding that it could happen “as early as next week” based on SpaceX’s opinion.

NASA’s interest in the Starship is tied to its use as a moon for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, and the builder is planned for use on Artemis 3. “There is no doubt that the Landing System Human Landing is the key path for Artemis 3,” he said.

The next “very big” event for the development of Starship HLS is to demonstrate the rapid transfer to orbit, since SpaceX will create a depot of propellant in Earth orbit provided by the launch of Starship many times before The depot fires a Starship tourist for its trip to the moon. “We have to show that they can do that effectively and that they understand any exceptions that come with that,” he said.

Related to that is the rate at which SpaceX can launch a Starship “Tanker” to fill the depot. “The speed thing is the speed at which SpaceX can develop systems that can heat the depot,” he said. He said NASA has seen “good progress” to that extent because of its construction of a second Starbase launch tower and the ability to “hopefully” launch in Florida.

Glaze also cited SpaceX’s efforts to recover and reuse the Super Heavy booster, which the company will test at launch. He said that the company originally planned to test the Super Heavy booster on its sixth test flight but postponed it to the fifth flight. “That’s part of the challenge in trying to get to this Flight 5 test.”

Committee members raised concerns about the “large number” of launches that would be required to fill the depot, with one member estimating 35, a much higher number than NASA or SpaceX officials have said publicly. Glaze does not provide several Starship configurations required for the HLS mission. Gerstenmaier said SpaceX expects to “do about 16 transfers” for a lunar mission.

“We’re all looking at SpaceX. They’re working a little bit differently than the old industry,” he said. “We’re all looking at progress as they continue to improve.”

Related