On March 14th, at 8:25 a.m. CT, SpaceX initiated the third integrated flight test of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage, lifting off from the company's Starbase orbital launch pad. This crucial flight test signifies a significant milestone in SpaceX's mission to deliver a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) to NASA for its Artemis endeavors.
As a key component of NASA's Artemis initiative to return humans to the Moon, the agency has partnered with SpaceX to develop the Starship Human Landing System (HLS). This system is designed to land astronauts near the Moon's South Pole during both the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions. On March 14, SpaceX successfully launched the third integrated flight test of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. This milestone represents a significant step forward in providing NASA with the Starship HLS for its Artemis missions.
At 8:25 a.m. CDT, a total of 33 Raptor engines, running on super-cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen, propelled the Super Heavy booster with the Starship stacked on top from SpaceX's Starbase orbital launch pad. Following suit, the Starship, powered by six Raptor engines, detached from the Super Heavy booster using a hot-staging technique. This separation occurred approximately three minutes into the flight, as per the predetermined flight plan. Notably, this marked the third flight test of the integrated Super Heavy-Starship system.
Lisa Watson-Morgan, HLS Program Manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, highlighted the significance of each flight test, emphasizing SpaceX's pursuit of increasingly ambitious objectives for Starship. These tests serve as invaluable learning opportunities, providing essential insights for the development of future mission systems. By conducting integrated tests like these, both NASA and SpaceX can gather crucial data necessary for the ongoing advancement of the Starship HLS.
This test achieved several significant milestones that will greatly aid in the development of Starship for Artemis lunar landing missions. Notably, the spacecraft successfully reached its anticipated orbit, and Starship executed the full-duration ascent burn as planned.
One objective closely tied to future Artemis operations is the transfer of thousands of pounds of cryogenic propellant between internal tanks during the spacecraft’s coast phase as part of NASA’s Space Technology Missions Directorate 2020 Tipping Point awards. The propellant transfer demonstration operations were completed, and the NASA-SpaceX team is currently reviewing the flight data that was received. This Tipping Point technology demonstration is one of more than 20 development activities NASA is undertaking to solve the challenges of using cryogenic fluids during future missions.
In a critical move aimed at comprehending the behavior of super-cooled propellant within the tanks post-engine shutdown and its impact on Starship's stability in orbit, engineers will meticulously analyze flight test data. Their focus will be on evaluating the performance of thrusters responsible for controlling Starship's orientation in space. Additionally, they are keen on understanding how the fluid movement within the tanks can be optimized to enhance propellant transfer efficiency and ensure that Raptor engines receive the necessary propellant conditions to facilitate restart in orbit.
Jeremy Kenny, project manager of NASA's Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio at Marshall, emphasized the unprecedented nature of storing and transferring cryogenic propellant in orbit at such a large scale. He described this technology as game-changing, stressing its crucial development and maturation for future science and exploration missions, not only to the Moon and Mars but also for endeavors venturing deeper into our solar system.
As part of NASA's Artemis initiative, the agency is poised to achieve several historic milestones, including landing the first woman, the first person of color, and the first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface. Moreover, Artemis aims to lay the groundwork for human expeditions to Mars. Central to this deep space exploration endeavor are commercial human landing systems, which complement vital components such as the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft, advanced spacesuits and rovers, exploration ground systems, and the Gateway space station.
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