The Moon seems farther away
SpaceX and Lunar Lander fail
Test Flight 8 of Starship ended stormily after one of three engines failed and the spacecraft started cartwheeling as shown in the data bar on the bottom of the picture. (Credit: SpaceX)
It was deja vu all over again last week when SpaceX lost its second Starship in a row. Also for a second time, a Houston startup’s lander ended up on its side on the surface of the Moon just hours earlier. It is hard to get to the Moon, and there were two dramatic examples last week. Will the U.S. have to once again delay its return to the lunar surface?
Elon Musk has been getting so much hate mail for his work with the President’s Department of Government Efficiency that he may not have even heard the people who cheered the explosive end of another Starship. Whatever one thinks about Musk it may not be smart to root against Starship if the U.S. wants to beat China to the Moon. The Starship is the ride for the U.S. astronauts to the lunar surface.
By the way, taxpayers are paying for these Starship test flights. NASA gave SpaceX nearly $3 billion to land astronauts near the south pole of the Moon. Another $1.15 billion was awarded for a second lunar mission for Starship.
The failure of the Starship, and its likely self-destruct once again, sent debris raining down along its flight path. SpaceX says any debris would have fallen in the, “pre-planned Debris Response Area.” But, the FAA did order airport ground stops in Florida and sent a warning to jetliners flying in the area. Reports suggest more than 200 flights had to change their routes.
Debris from Starship Test Flight 8 (Credit: @GeneDoctorB)
What happened to the Starship? SpaceX only says, “an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines. This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship.” The problem seems similar to the last flight with a fire in what is called the attic, the area just above the engines. One of three engines failed and the spacecraft started cartwheeling. This second explosion means another mishap investigation has been ordered by the FAA before the company can fly again.
Meanwhile, Athena is dead and on its side near the Moon’s south pole. Athena was Intuitive Machines second attempt (IM-2) to deliver NASA science experiments to the Moon. Its first lander also ended up on its side a year ago February. The company tried to make the most of the mishap saying, “this was the southernmost lunar landing and surface operations ever achieved.” Hours after the touchdown, the lander’s batteries ran out of juice.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost spacecraft landing on the Moon. The sun was behind the lander and its shadow is visible as it touches down. (Credit: Firefly)
Days earlier, Firefly, another Houston company, successfully put its lander on the surface. These are relatively inexpensive missions aimed at getting NASA experiments to the surface so the agency can learn more about sending astronauts to the south pole. It’s thought there is ice there that can be used for water and rocket fuel.
These flights are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. NASA wants “trucks” to deliver science and material to the lunar surface. In a matter of a couple of years it is likely these flights will become so common, they may not make much news.
There are much bigger problems that make the Moon seem a bit farther away for U.S. astronauts. One of NASA’s advisory panels (NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel- ASAP) has concluded in its latest annual report that the agency must complete so many “first-time” milestones, the risk, “may be too high,” for the agency. Here are a few of the concerns.
ORION CAPSULE
NASA’s capsule to carry astronauts to the Moon has a problem. Its heat shield didn’t act like it was supposed to during an unmanned test flight. The shield is ablative, meaning parts of it burn away. But some of the burning was unusual and deeper than expected. NASA says it thinks it has solutions. Those fixes have been tested and incorporated. The crewed flight on Orion, known as Artemis II, is now set for April of next year at the earliest. ASAP says it has not seen the details and is reviewing the heat shield work right now.
HUMAN LANDER
The Starship is expected to be the lander for Artemis III, the landing of astronauts on the Moon. With this second test flight failure, the path to the Moon seems much bumpier. Starship has still not orbited Earth. Once it does, SpaceX will need to do something that’s never been done. Starship will have to be refueled. A “gas station” has not been flown to space, and never has fuel been transferred from one vehicle to another. There are suggestions that Starship will need 6 to 10 refueling tankers to have enough fuel to get to the Moon.
Crew quarters for Starship have not flown and therefore not tested in space. SpaceX will have to successfully land at least once without a crew. These are critical test objectives that ASAP says, “must be successfully demonstrated to ensure risks are managed appropriately prior to a crewed mission.”
SpaceX isn’t the only player working to land astronauts on the Moon. Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin received a $3.4 billion NASA contract to develop its Blue Moon lander. Blue Moon is a bit more like the Apollo LEM. It is much smaller than Starship. It won’t need to be refueled. Blue Moon is expected to be used after those first Starship landings on the Moon.
MOON SUIT
NASA threw in the towel in trying to develop a suit for astronauts to walk on the Moon on its own. It hired two contractors. One of the contractors bailed. Now, there are questions if the remaining contractor can deliver a suit to NASA. ASAP says, “the remaining 18-month delivery schedule of a final product that is completely tested, verified, and proven safe for astronauts on the lunar surface, especially in the harsh conditions of the South Pole, will be a difficult challenge.”
ASAP doesn’t say this can’t be done. But there is a lot to do and some of it has never been done before. After a week of some success, but more failures, the Moon does seem a bit farther away.
Dear Dave:
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Jay Birks