Experts say SpaceX will likely get a license to test the new Starship quickly

The Starship’s last flight on Saturday also ended in an explosion. But there’s reason to believe it won’t have to wait seven months before it’s allowed to test again the rover, which NASA is counting on to return astronauts to the lunar surface under the Artemis program, according to former FAA officials. .

After the flight, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk Written on X The rocket, which consists of a Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft sitting atop it, “should be ready to fly in 3 to 4 weeks.” The company has a fleet of vehicles rolling off the production line, including “three ships in final production,” he wrote.

And perhaps just as important: Saturday’s test flight from SpaceX’s facility in South Texas showed significant improvements over the first flight in April. In the months following that flight, SpaceX installed a water suppression system designed to preserve the cushion by dampening vibrations from the Raptor’s 33 engines. It seemed to work, and after Saturday’s trip, Musk wrote that “I inspected the spacecraft launch pad, and it is in great condition! There is no need to refit the water-cooled steel plate for the next launch.

The trip also went much better. The spacecraft reached space this time, flying at an altitude of 93 miles, much higher than the 24 miles it reached last time. All 33 booster engines ignited. Last time six failed. He succeeded in reaching the point where the booster separates from the spacecraft, which did not happen the last time. The flight termination system on board, designed to destroy the missile if it veers off course, appears to have worked just in time. Last time, there was a delay of about 40 seconds.

For all these reasons, “the situation is much more promising,” says George Nield, former head of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. The question now is: “Do we know if something needs to be changed, repaired, replaced or modified?” He said. “And does any of this have anything to do with public safety?”

But he said the FAA is also under intense pressure, which could increase delays, as the commercial space industry continues to grow and impose requirements on the agency that it did not have just a few years ago. There’s always the possibility that the investigation will uncover bigger problems, which could force SpaceX and the FAA to spend more time.

Wayne Monteith, who also served as head of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, agreed that it would likely be a relatively quick review, saying it could take “weeks, not months, depending on what the data shows” before SpaceX can fly a Starship. once again.

If SpaceX is able to determine what caused the rapid flight termination system to trigger, which destroyed the spacecraft in the second stage after separation from the booster, and also confirm that the debris landed where it was expected to be in the event of a failure, “this should be the case,” Monteith said. : “It’s relatively straight forward.”

It will also have to determine what caused the booster to explode after it separated and began steering itself back through the atmosphere to Earth.

Video: Watch the missile explosion

It will be up to SpaceX to submit a report detailing why the flight failed and what changes it plans to make for the next flight.

“Before authorizing a third Starship/Super Heavy launch, SpaceX must obtain a modified authorization from the FAA that addresses safety, environmental, and other regulatory requirements,” the FAA said in a statement to The Washington Post. “As part of the licensing process, the FAA will review all new information provided by SpaceX, including environmental concerns.”

SpaceX has extensive experience working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is moving quickly to return to the launch pad. After losing a Falcon 9 rocket on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station to NASA in 2015, SpaceX flew in six months later, making the first landing of its booster.

During a previous Starship test campaign, SpaceX lost a series of prototypes that collapsed, exploded, or broke apart and then exploded, but it was able to troubleshoot the problems and return to testing. It hopes to do the same with the now fully integrated Starship system.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn,” SpaceX said in a statement after the latest launch. “This flight will help us improve the reliability of Starship as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary. Data review is ongoing as we look for improvements to make for the next flight.”

She added: “The result of the flight test came when telemetry was lost near the end of the second stage of burn before the engine cut off after more than eight minutes of flight. The team verified that the safe destruction order was carried out appropriately based on the available vehicle performance data.”

SpaceX did not say why this happened Booster explosionOr why the second stage’s self-destruct mechanism was triggered.

SpaceX isn’t the only company looking to get back into testing. NASA is investing $4 billion in the vehicle, and has hired SpaceX to use it to transport astronauts to and from the surface of the moon in the first landings since the end of the Apollo era in 1972. NASA hopes for the first Artemis landing with astronauts on board. It will happen by 2025 or 2026, but the timeline largely depends on the spacecraft. The rocket and spacecraft will have to fly several times to prove their reliability. It also needs to refuel in orbit before going to the moon, a difficult feat that has never been accomplished before.

SpaceX to FAA: The industry needs you to move faster

“I hope the Biden administration takes note of what is at stake here and pushes the FAA not to roll back the next launch license,” said Todd Harrison, a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Think tank. “NASA’s Artemis program is highly dependent on the development of Starship, as will the commercial space sector, which will benefit greatly from the significant reduction in launch costs that Starship will bring.”

However, there will likely be more tension between SpaceX, a powerful commercial company, and the federal government, which is often layered with red tape, he said.

“SpaceX tends to expect that government approval will follow logical and efficient timelines,” Harrison said. “But government bureaucracy is not logical and efficient.”