In a House hearing earlier today, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson shared details about SpaceX's plans for the Starship rocket. The former astronaut and senator from Florida outlined to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology that following SpaceX's fiery Starship rocket test last week, the company has informed him that it plans to make the next attempt in just two months from now. Administration Nelson's appearance before Congress was part of a hearing conducted for NASA's budget request for the fiscal year 2024, and he assured members that SpaceX is a "hardware rich" company that can afford to blow up rockets during tests.
SpaceX Says It Will Have Starship Ready For Launch In 2 Months Says Administrator Nelso
Right off the bat, committee chairman Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) started the conversation by asking Administrator Nelson about NASA's plans to land astronauts on the Moon and what key technologies might prevent it from meeting its timelines. In response, Nelson shared that one hurdle was a budgetary decision by NASA to reuse the avionics from the Orion ship for the Artemis 1 that flew last year for the ship for Artemis 2. This, according to him, has created a two-year delay between the two missions, which could have been avoided had NASA developed two sets of avionics.
The Administrator then shared estimates SpaceX provided him about what's next for the Starship program:
Now the big driver there is we know we've got Orion, the capsule, and the rocket, because we've already tested that. But we're going into lunar, polar, elliptical orbit, and we're gonna rendevous with a SpaceX lander. And the SpaceX lander is a developing program of which in the state to the south of yours, Mr. Chairman, and it blew a hole in that launch pad! So, I have asked, so I can report to you, as of today, that SpaceX is still saying that they think it will take about, at least, two months, to rebuild the launchpad. And concurrently, about two months to have their second vehicle ready to launch.
Now understand that the explosion that's not a big downer in the way that SpaceX does things. They are hardware rich, meaning they've got a lot of those rockets ready to go. And that's their modus operandi. They launch, if something goes wrong, they figure out what it is. They go back, and they launch it again. So I anticipate that we will see a number of launches from Boca Chica, Texas and then they're going to bring that rocket to Bill Posey's and my home county and launch it there after they have already proven and had the experience. So, I'm fairly confident, but there are a lot of things that still have to be done.
The hearing then progressed to ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) asking Mr. Nelson whether recent budget cuts would affect NASA's Moon programs. On this front, he outlined that if there was a 22% budget cut, America would fall behind its rivals in space exploration.
Representative Lofgren then commented on the SpaceX Starship test and stated:
Okay, thank you very much, Administrator Nelson. You know I must say when I saw that rocket blow up, I thought thank god there's no people on board. Sometimes the lowest bidders aren't always the best choice.
Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) added to this and shared that he was grateful that the rocket did not explode over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
As the question shifted to America's competition with China and Russia, Mr. Nelson said he was worried that China would get to the lunar South Pole before his agency. He believes that China might not allow anyone else access to the area in such a scenario since the Chinese space program is primarily a military program.
SpaceX's Starship uses a stunning 33 Raptor 2 engines to power itself during flight. This is the largest number of engines used on a rocket in human history and the first time a private company has attempted such an endeavor. Starship is also twice as powerful as NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis program. Its second stage is also the first time this component is designed to be reusable - significantly driving down launch costs in the process. Additionally, the Raptor 2 engines are the first time that engines of their kind have been built by America.
Refference- https://wccftech.com
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