STARSHIP. NASA has announced that the Starship spacecraft will take astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis missions. The rocket that will become the most powerful in the world is still in the test phase and has not yet flown.
After being selected for the Artemis 3 mission, SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft has again been chosen by NASA for the following mission: Artemis 4. Scheduled by the American space agency for 2025, the Artemis 3 mission should enable the Man to set foot on lunar soil again, for the first time since 1972 during the Apollo program. The Starship spacecraft will have the role of transporting the astronauts between the capsule Orion and the lunar surface. During the next mission, Artemis 4, the Starship will serve as a shuttle between the Moon and the Lunar Gateway, the station placed in orbit around the Moon. The SpaceX company, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is thus gradually getting closer to its lifelong ambition: to conquer the planet Mars.
The Starship rocket, consisting of the Super Heavy launcher topped by the Starship ship, is the most powerful rocket ever designed. It will therefore dethrone the SLS launcher of the NASA, current holder of the title. On November 14, 2022, fourteen of the rocket’s thirty-three engines were tested in Texas at Boca Chica Village. Elon Musk, the leader of SpaceX, said he was satisfied with this test which will make it possible to test all of the thirty-three engines of the machine in the coming weeks. This phase will be decisive since depending on its result, the Starship rocket could possibly make its very first test flight during the month of December, reports the magazine. Sky & Space.
What is SpaceX’s Starship?
The Starship is a rocket developed by the SpaceX company which is composed of a launcher, the Super Heavy, surmounted by the Starship spacecraft. It is on board the latter that the astronauts of the Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 missions will land on lunar soil.
From a performance point of view, the Starship rocket is on the way to becoming the most powerful ever used and thus dethroning NASA’s SLS launcher. The entire rocket has a total of thirty-three Raptor engines. The upper part, the Starship, is designed to be available in different versions depending on the needs.
The Starship rocket SpaceX is the largest and most powerful ever built. This rocket is composed of an extremely powerful launcher, the Super Heavy, capable of returning to land on Earth to serve again, surmounted by a Starship vessel which is also intended to be reusable. Its unrivaled power is achieved through thirty-three Raptor engines using liquid methane as fuel.
During takeoff, the first stage, named Super Heavy, propels the rocket into the sky. Once in the upper atmosphere, it detaches from the upper part, rotates and returns to land on Earth, spreading its feet for a soft landing. For its part, the upper part, the Starship, turns on its engines and continues its journey through space on its own.
When and where will the first Starship launch take place?
SpaceX’s Starship rocket has been expected for several years and is falling behind schedule. In September 2022, the ultra-powerful launcher successfully ignited seven of its thirty-three engines for the first time. The following November 14, fourteen of them were tested conclusively. The first test flight of the Starship rocket is scheduled for December 2022 according to NASA.
Will Starship land on the Moon?
SpaceX’s Starship is a lunar lander that will be used to deliver astronauts on the Artemis 3 and 4 missions to the Moon. It will therefore land on the lunar surface in 2025 and 2027 according to the provisional calendar and will thus allow the great return of Man to the Moon. But before getting there, the Starship will have to prove itself through a test flight during which it will have to land safely on the lunar surface.
The Starship is unlike any traditional lander. It is particularly large and poses new technical constraints. This is how SpaceX plans to equip its ship with an elevator that will allow astronauts to go from the cabin to the lunar surface.
What are Starship’s missions within Artemis?
Starship is one of the main elements of the first manned missions of the Artemis program. This is the lander, that is to say the ship that will travel between the Orion capsule and the lunar surface. Indeed, the Orion capsule will take astronauts to lunar orbit but is not designed to land on the Moon. The Starship will do this work. It will start by docking with Orion to allow astronauts to move from one ship to another and will take them to the lunar surface. At the end of the mission, the astronauts will reboard the Starship which will take off and join the Orion spacecraft. The latter will then return to Earth in a few days.
When the Lunar Gateway base, placed in orbit around the Moon, is operational, the Starship spacecraft will have the role of shuttling between the latter and the Moon. If the schedule is respected, this should be the case for the Artemis 4 mission, scheduled for 2027.
What is the new Starship ordered by NASA?
The Starship exists in several versions intended for very distinct missions. The version used during the Artemis 3 mission is the HLS (Human Landing System) which is a lunar lander. However, for Artemis 4, NASA is thinking bigger. The US space agency has therefore ordered an improved version of Starship from SpaceX. It will have to be able to carry a greater number of astronauts on board and allow them to stay longer on the Moon, explains the magazine SciencePost.
How big is Starship?
The Starship rocket measures a total of 120 meters high and 9 meters in diameter, making it the largest rocket ever built. It thus dethrones the Saturn V rocket which sent the first astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo missions. Its size is out of all proportion to NASA’s SLS launcher, which peaks at 98 meters in height once equipped with the Orion capsule. Only the Starship, that is to say the upper part of the rocket, measures 50 meters high and weighs 1,200 tons.
How much does the Starship rocket cost?
SpaceX has not released the total price for the construction of the Starship rocket, but we know the amount of the contract that was signed between Elon Musk’s company and NASA for the various Artemis missions that involve SpaceX. Thus, for Artemis 3, NASA paid 2.89 billion dollars. For Artemis 4 and the new version of the Starship spacecraft, the contract amounts to 1.15 billion dollars.
In addition, the SpaceX company has unveiled the prices it hopes to be able to offer for its Starship rocket launch services. Elon Musk thus plans to break the prices of the space economy by proposing a price of 2 million dollars per flight while the SLS costs 2 billion dollars.