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The Hill
11 hours ago
- Science
- The Hill
Starship's ninth test creates problems for Elon Musk
When the Federal Aviation Administration finally gave SpaceX permission to test its giant rocket, the Starship, space observers breathed sighs of relief. As video blogger Ellie Sherrif pointed out that although the failures of the seventh and eighth flights seemed to be similar in that the Starship exploded soon after it separated from the Super Heavy first stage, they had completely different root causes, which SpaceX attempted to address for the ninth flight. Then the question arose: Had SpaceX fixed the problems that had caused failures for both the eighth and seventh tests? The good news is that SpaceX fixed those problems. Starship did not explode soon after separation from the Super Heavy. But, as so often happens during test flights of cutting-edge rockets, other problems arose. The ninth test flight of the Starship was a good news/bad news event. The good news: The Starship did not explode over the Gulf soon after separating from the Super Heavy. And the Super Heavy first stage was a reused rocket from the seventh flight. Proving reusability was a big deal toward making SpaceX's monster rocket a viable launch vehicle. Unlike in previous tests, all of the engines in the Super Heavy remained lit during the ascent phase. But, as Ars Technica reported, plenty of bad news occurred during the most recent flight as well. The Super Heavy, tested during descent to the limits, did not touch down in the Gulf but instead exploded. The bad news continued as the Starship cruised through space toward its planned controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. First, a test involving the deployment of Starlink simulators failed when the bay doors did not open. Then, Starship began tumbling when the rocket lost attitude control due to a fuel leak. It broke apart over the Indian Ocean. SpaceX was unable to relight one of the Starship's Raptor engines in space. Reentry data from the reusable heat tiles on the rocket was lost. SpaceX founder CEO Elon Musk, noting how the ninth flight fell short of its objectives, noted that the test had garnered a lot of data to review. He also suggested that the flight cadence for Starship will increase to a launch every three to four weeks. If true, that is good news. Rapid turnaround is vital if Starship is to become a viable vehicle to take humanity to the moon, Mars and beyond. We will see what the FAA has to say about that. Musk has two very big problems on his hands, one technical and the other political. The technical problem consists of getting Starship operational so that it can both support the Artemis return to the moon program and Musk's dream of founding a settlement on Mars. He has hopes of an uncrewed landing on the moon in 2026 to test Starship's use as a Human Landing System for the Artemis III mission, currently planned for 2027. He also would like to send an uncrewed Starship to Mars in 2026. The trick will be flying again and again, ironing out every problem from the Starship so that at the end of the process, SpaceX has a viable launch vehicle, on par with the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy in reliability. The other problem Musk faces is political. He has spent the past year delving into politics, first by supporting Donald Trump's campaign to be reelected as president, then by running the DOGE project to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. His political adventures, no matter what one thinks of them, have rubbed some powerful people the wrong way. One can already write the talking points, accusing the Trump administration of spending money so that Musk can blow up rockets. It is only a matter of time before Musk's opponents in Washington, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), run to the cameras to denounce the billionaire space race. He has done so before. Jared Isaacman, who was Trump's nominee for NASA administrator until this weekend, sprang to Musk's defense on X, 'Some may focus on the lows, but behind the efforts of Starship–and other programs like New Glenn, Neutron, Vulcan, Terran, Stoke, etc.–is a massive space economy taking shape: tens of thousands of jobs, billions in private investment, all aimed at truly opening the last great frontier.' Musk told Ars Technica's Eric Berger that he plans to step away from his government work and concentrate more on his companies, including SpaceX. 'It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks.' All in all, a sound decision. Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled 'Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?' as well as 'The Moon, Mars and Beyond' and, most recently, 'Why is America Going Back to the Moon?' He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
Scientific American
3 days ago
- Science
- Scientific American
SpaceX's Starbase Is Officially a City. Some Neighbors Aren't Thrilled
Before SpaceX's Starship lost control and exploded over the Indian Ocean during its ninth test flight, the 400-foot-tall megarocket blasted off from Texas's newest city. Starbase, situated on 1.5 square miles of the Lone Star State's southernmost tip in the Rio Grande Valley, is mostly made up of SpaceX employees living on company-owned property and abuts a habitat for endangered wildlife, as well as a public beach. Starbase serves as the main testing and launch location for Starship, SpaceX's planned fully reusable spacecraft, which is meant to revolutionize human and uncrewed space travel with its gargantuan payload capacity and rapid-fire flight cadence. If Starship's development proceeds as planned, the megarocket could soon be ferrying crew and cargo alike to multiple otherworldly destinations—such as the lunar surface, for NASA's Artemis program, and Mars, in fulfillment of SpaceX founder Elon Musk's long-stated dream. But nearby residents worry about less glamorous local effects, fearing that a town built around the space company could continue SpaceX's alleged pattern of polluting the area and blocking access to the nearby beach and other open public spaces. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'SpaceX has already proven itself to be an extremely bad neighbor,' says Christopher Basaldú, an anthropologist and environmentalist and co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, who lives in nearby Brownsville, Tex. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Long before it was Starbase, the area's beaches, tidal flats and wetlands were of great significance to the Indigenous Carrizo/Comecrudo people (or Esto'k Gna in their own language). Many of them still live nearby as members of the modern-day Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. Today the area is largely Latino and among the poorest in the country. Musk's space company began buying up property there in 2012; ever since company housing and rocket-related infrastructure have steadily sprouted. 'We've grown quite a bit just in the last couple of years. It's a couple hundred employees [and] their families, living amongst actual rockets,' said Daniel Huot, a SpaceX communications manager, during a company livestream before Tuesday's Starship test flight. Huot added that the move to incorporate what was formerly Boca Chica Village as Starbase will help the company 'scale more quickly [to] try to build out the best community possible for all the people that are building the future of humanity's place in space.' Even before SpaceX began launching rockets at the site, neighbors complained about potential environmental woes stemming from the company's operations. In a 2018 press conference, Musk dismissed such concerns, saying 'We've got a lot of land with no one around, and so if [a rocket] blows up, it's cool.' The first launch of the 40-story-tall Starship vehicle in April 2023 didn't entirely proceed as planned —it blew up the concrete launch pad and left a literal crater behind. Particulate debris, as well as concrete and steel shrapnel from the botched launch, scattered far and wide across the surrounding landscape, igniting fires and slamming into protected habitats and public beaches. Ash, dust and sand grains hurled aloft by this first Starship flight test rained down as far out as Port Isabel, Tex., about five miles from the launch site. Local environmentalists have also sounded the alarm on how the company's activities at Starbase could increase chemical and sonic pollution that puts migratory birds and other vulnerable endangered species in the area at greater risk. Despite these brewing tensions, Starbase was incorporated in early May, making it the first new city in Cameron County, Texas, in 30 years. Only people who live in the immediate area—almost all of them SpaceX employees—were eligible to vote for the new city. Residents voted 212 for and six against. The city's mayor and commissioners—all current or former SpaceX employees—ran unopposed. 'Now [SpaceX has] stolen away not only a neighborhood but the land around it, which had been basically environmentally untouched areas,' says Basaldú, who is a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe. Starbase's boundaries snake along State Highway 4, which provides the only access to both Starbase and the open-to-the-public Boca Chica Beach. A bill pending in the Texas Legislature would shift control over weekday closures of the beach and nearby roadways from the county commissioners to Starbase city leaders now that Starbase is a municipality under law. 'As a community, we were there first,' says Suquiery Santillana, a resident of nearby Brownsville, Tex., who has visited Boca Chica Beach since childhood. 'I'm almost 50, and now my grandkids are going.' Her family's trips to the isolated shoreline now include wide-eyed roadside spectators from all across the country who want to catch a glimpse of the SpaceX launch site. While Santillana is happy that SpaceX has brought jobs to the area, she would like the company to communicate more about upcoming closures and launch plans with locals. Members of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe also trace their creation story to this once-pristine beach. The intermittent access restrictions imposed by SpaceX's launches, some tribe members say, limit them from freely participating in traditions such as fishing and tribal ceremonies that have been taking place on their ancestral land for thousands of years. Activity at the site could soon ramp up even more. On May 22 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it had granted approval for SpaceX to increase the annual number of Starbase launches from five to 25. Eventually, Starship flights from the site could far exceed that because the vehicle is designed for very fast turnaround times and an unprecedentedly high launch cadence. Starship's sheer size, coupled with more frequent launches, could balloon Starbase's overall environmental footprint while also essentially shutting down Highway 4 for much of the year. The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For now, Starbase is poised to continue its rapid development and expansion, with plans in the works for more housing, offices and rocket launch facilities. Jim Chapman of the local environmental justice nonprofit Save RGV (Rio Grande Valley) worries that Starbase's incorporation could allow SpaceX to skirt important regulatory hurdles. '[SpaceX has] fewer layers of bureaucracy that [it has] to go through and get approval from,' he says. 'But on the other hand, I haven't really seen the county denying [it] anything.' As SpaceX vies to fly ever more powerful rockets in pursuit of Musk's interplanetary aspirations, local residents also fear that the company's launch activity and its proximity to new natural gas projects could pose grave threats to Rio Grande Valley communities. One such project currently under construction is less than six miles from the launch site—too close for comfort, some critics say, given the possibility of volatile explosions sparked by showers of fiery rocket debris. If Musk's latest projections are to be trusted (he often overpromises and underdelivers on meeting ambitious rocketry deadlines), additional Starship test flights will blast off from Starbase every few weeks for the rest of the summer. Time will tell if the company will be mindful of those who live next door.
India Today
3 days ago
- Science
- India Today
Elon Musk confirms plan to launch Starship to Mars in 2026
Two days after the latest in a series of test-flight failures for SpaceX's Starship, Elon Musk announced that he is aiming to send the massive spacecraft on its first uncrewed voyage to Mars by the end of 2026—a timeline he admits is ambitious and carries only a 50-50 chance of outlined an updated development roadmap in a video posted by SpaceX, just a day after he revealed his departure from the Trump administration, where he had led a controversial campaign to slash government said he is scaling back his government role to refocus on his private ventures, notably SpaceX and Tesla. The billionaire entrepreneur acknowledged that achieving the 2026 Mars target hinges on Starship's ability to master several demanding technical challenges during its ongoing flight among these is a complex in-orbit refuelling manoeuvre, essential for the long journey to the red planet. The end of 2026 coincides with a rare planetary alignment, offering the shortest possible transit—about seven to nine months—between Earth and Mars, an opportunity that arises only every two said that if Starship is not ready by then, SpaceX would wait until the next alignment window in 2028. The first mission would carry a simulated crew of Tesla-built Optimus humanoid robots, with human crews expected to follow on subsequent announcement comes on the heels of Starship's ninth test flight, which ended in failure when the spacecraft lost control and disintegrated roughly 30 minutes after launch, following a fuel leak that caused it to spin two previous test flights, in January and March, ended in explosions shortly after liftoff, scattering debris across the Caribbean and forcing commercial flights to reroute as a these setbacks, Musk remains undeterred, emphasising that each failure yields valuable data and promising a faster pace for upcoming tests. NASA, meanwhile, is counting on Starship for its Artemis program, aiming to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2027—a stepping stone for eventual human missions to Mars in the vision extends far beyond a single mission: he envisions launching up to 2,000 Starships every two years to rapidly establish a permanent, self-sustaining human settlement on Watch
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Next phase of NASA's Artemis II testing set to begin
May 29 (UPI) -- The next phase of testing is set to begin for NASA's crewed Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon, the administration announced Thursday, and will serve as a foundation for travel to Mars. With a major phase of testing complete, teams will begin to ensure that the Artemis II's rocket and ground systems are working correctly. "It will ensure different systems, including core stage engines and booster thrust control, work as planned," a release from NASA said. Testing teams will also simulate a launch-day scenario in which the Artemis II astronauts will test emergency systems and have them simulate leaving their crew quarters after suiting up to board the rocket for launch. NASA scientists will also test their countdown procedures. Artemis II is scheduled to carry the first woman and person of color to the lunar surface. It is scheduled to lift off in April.
UPI
3 days ago
- Science
- UPI
Next phase of NASA's Artemis II testing set to begin
1 of 2 | NASA projects an image of the Artemis II Mission "Patch" onto the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida in April. The Artemis II mission is planned to be the first to send a crew of four around the moon on a ten day flight. File photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo May 29 (UPI) -- The next phase of testing is set to begin for NASA's crewed Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon, the administration announced Thursday, and will serve as a foundation for travel to Mars. With a major phase of testing complete, teams will begin to ensure that the Artemis II's rocket and ground systems are working correctly. "It will ensure different systems, including core stage engines and booster thrust control, work as planned," a release from NASA said. Testing teams will also simulate a launch-day scenario in which the Artemis II astronauts will test emergency systems and have them simulate leaving their crew quarters after suiting up to board the rocket for launch. NASA scientists will also test their countdown procedures. Artemis II is scheduled to carry the first woman and person of color to the lunar surface. It is scheduled to lift off in April.
