SpaceX has scheduled a live stream for March 14, 2024 for the third launch orbital test flight of the SpaceX Starship.
They have changed the flight plan from previous orbital launches. They will try to make a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. They will restart engines in orbit and open the payload bay doors.
There will also be propellant transfer tests. The propellant transfer is critical for the eventual NASA lunar Starship missions. The lunar Starship will need to be refueled 8-20 times to have the fuel needed for lunar landing mission with the complete Starship.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
As much as I love to read Nextbigfuture I am finding it increasingly difficult due to pop up windows and ads. On my iPhone it’s now next to impossible
Given the complexities of fueling Starship while still on the ground – ~minute 3:40 in the video – the idea of doing the same thing while in SPACE and doing SAFELY enough for humans to be onboard at the time, 8-20 times, in higher orbits, seems just short of absurd.
I think it’s going to be many many years before SpaceX gets anywhere near Moon landing capable…and does it need to refuel when returning from the Moon too??
Even with a much greater payload, it sure seems like Starship gets terrible “gas” mileage compared to the only known manned spaceship ever known or built to date capable of reaching the Moon – the Saturn V. Saturn V had 3 stages, not two. Maybe that math makes more sense?
Is the problem with carrying hardware for reusable full stage landings, not even part of the next round of experiments?
What is it with Musk and things that have limited ranges, like EVs?
How does this compare to the Artemis rocket, which is more like a modern version of Saturn V, not reusable, but not needing refueling in space either?
How is China expecting to land taikonauts on the Moon before 2030? Surely they are not planning so many refuelings too?
I agree, this tech is still extremely primitive. R&D, testing must be done to progress, but it will be many, many years until Starship will move people to Moon or Mars.
We will have AGI, maybe even ASI/Singularity before that.
Humans will not be onboard for ANY of the refilling for Artemis. It will be refilling a depot ship and a single refill for Artemis lander – when it is not crewed. An all-Starship lunar transport system not using SLS/Orion would have 1 docking with a propellant depot with crew.
The Starship Artemis lander transports vastly more mass to the lunar surface than Apollo at much lower cost – including the cost of all the refilling launches.
Apollo or similar architectures was not capable of building or sustaining a base on the moon, Starship is.
With the lifting capacity of Starship (5000,000 pounds for ones designed not to return) there is no reason not to send a bunch of them up, designed to lock together and be an orbiting refuel station.
All but one of those sequence launches will be of an unmanned tanker to a fuel Depot. This will be a system over a hundred times more capable than the minimalist Apollo LM and far more expandable.
This isn’t supposed to be a re-do of Apollo but a sustainable and open-ended archetecture.