Elon Musk’s Starship megarocket rocket launch is vital to NASA’s return to the Moon

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• SpaceX is planning to launch the megarocket Starship, its flagship product, for the first ever in April.
• NASA's return back to the Moon will be impossible without the rocket that NASA has designated for future missions.
• Commercial players will play a central role in missions as NASA stops building rockets.

NASA is getting closer to returning the Moon after 50 years. SpaceX plays a crucial role in this mission.

Elon Musk has said that SpaceX will launch its Starship megarocket in April. It is the most powerful rocket system designed to carry cargo and crews to the moon, Mars and beyond. SpaceX successfully tested a spacecraft, as well as a booster called "Super Heavy."

NASA's Artemis program will be judged by the launch of Starship. NASA awarded SpaceX $2.9 billion in 2021 to use Starship as a tool to land the first humans to the moon since 1972. Starship was also awarded a contract in November to be part of the Artemis IV Mission.

According to Brendan Rosseau a teaching fellow at Harvard Business School, the test will not only involve the company's flagship car, but it will also be a major test for NASA's gamble of integrating commercial actors in the development process.

In an interview, he said that "the Starship plans are woven into Artemis as well as all the other different components."

Starship is the key to NASA's SLS for moon landing

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NASA's rockets won't take astronauts to the moon, unlike the Apollo missions.

NASA's Orion, mounted on top of the new Space Launch System (SLS), will carry the crew to the orbit around the moon. A Starship will be launched separately and will serve as the lunar lander.

Space.com reported that after the mission, Starship will take the crew to Orion before they abandon Starship in lunar space.

NASA is planning to send a SpaceX rocket that it commissioned as the rocket that will put boots on the Moon for the first since 1972.

Rosseau stated that "if you are Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, you would be watching closely the test launches of Starship, because Starship has become a vital part of your infrastructure."

NBC reported that NASA's dependence upon Starship became evident when Nelson asked Gwynne shotwell, president of SpaceX if Musk's Twitter purchase would impact the company's missions with the agency. Shotwell assured him he didn't have to worry.

NASA's support for SpaceX does not stop with Artemis III. NASA has given SpaceX the task of designing the lander for Artemis IV. This will extend NASA's investment in the design by an additional $1.2 billion.

"It shows NASA's faith in SpaceX to have Starship operational by that date." Rosseau stated that it was "amazing" considering we haven't yet had a complete orbital flight test.

NASA always planned for SpaceX to succeed

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Rosseau stated that SpaceX's successes were part of NASA’s grand plan to include commercial actors in the center of its upcoming mission.

NASA's development program changed after the shuttle program ended. Rosseau explained that instead of investing its entire energy in engineering a rocket, from launch to finish, NASA began to push more investments into private companies who could take the burden of the development and compete for lower prices, while also increasing efficiency.

He added that this strategy was "risky" but now has paid off "extremely." He said that this strategy "birthed companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and all these others." The only reason they exist is because of NASA's investment and the fact that NASA was their customer.

SpaceX isn’t the only one to benefit from this strategy. NASA has given 14 private companies the task of carrying various payloads to and from the moon over the next few years. Three of these private companies will deliver a payload in the coming year.

Musk says Starship is cheaper and better than SLS

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Musk said in the past that each launch would cost less than $10m within a few short years.

SpaceX also hopes to make Starship reusable. This means that it could launch multiple times per year.

Rosseau stated that the new technology could fundamentally change how we view space, and how much and why we are willing to spend in space.

Rosseau stated that if SpaceX was able to launch 50 rockets "in a year", they would be able put in space more mass than any other time since Sputnik. This is just a third the number of launches SpaceX set for a year.

NASA's SLS rocket is expensive for taxpayers. The program has cost $50 billion since 2006. The 23-story rocket was launched only six years after the initial planned launch date of 2016.

It's not going to be cheaper any time soon, with the cost of each SLS launch exceeding $4 billion. NASA has to build SLS every time.

This makes NASA's SLS rocket a poor rival to SpaceX’s new shiny rocket.

SLS was an anomaly for NASA

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Why did NASA continue to support its SLS rocket if it believes SpaceX will deliver on its promises?

Rosseau said NASA's Megarocket is a "bit anomaly" as it moves towards commercial partnerships.

He said that if you consider the cost, the time it took to develop, and the problems it has had then it may be a good idea to buy services from the private sector.

Rosseau stated that SLS may have continued to invest because of a political gamble, and not a business decision.

He said that some cynics might say it was senators and congressional appropriators with local interests who wanted NASA to build a giant rocket for jobs in their districts.

Rosseau stated that SLS will likely remain NASA's mainstay, at least for Artemis missions.

"The SLS is a great option for Artemis because it was designed specifically for that mission." It was designed to be compatible with Orion. He said, "It was built for this purpose."

NASA has worked hard to make it happen. They seem to be sticking with it for quite some time.

Rosseau stated that if SpaceX can prove to NASA that Starship is more cost-effective and efficient, "increasing" pressure may be put on NASA to use their rockets in more missions than Artemis.

NASA does not want to rely on Starship alone

Starship is the most likely vehicle to allow NASA to land on the Moon.

Greg Autry, visiting professor at Imperial College London’s Institute for Security, Science, and Technology, said to Insider that "we must have more than just one way to go on and off of the moon."

He described Starship as "incredibly promising" but warned there are many hurdles that must be overcome before its first orbital launch. The spacecraft must be equipped with life-support equipment, refuel the lander while in orbit and develop a strategy to minimize dust when landing on the Moon.

Autry stated that "if any company can do this, SpaceX is it. But given the usual programmatic delay, from which Starship was not immune, it's a real worry on the critical path towards landing."

He said that NASA must have a second lunar lander as well as Starship for "mission assurance and system redundancy, and to eventually guarantee economic competition."

Rosseau also agreed that NASA is against having a single winner.

Last September, the agency opened a contract to acquire a second lunar landing from competitors.

Rosseau stated that there is room for multiple competitors on the market. He added that he will be closely monitoring Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket and Relativity Space Terran R rockets in the near term.

He said, "You need healthy competition to encourage people to innovate and not become complacent."

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By: mguenot@businessinsider.com (Marianne Guenot,Kate Duffy)
Title: Elon Musk holds the keys to the moon because SpaceX’s Starship megarocket launch is crucial to NASA’s return
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-launch-crucial-nasa-moon-return-sls-2023-3
Published Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000