Space News
Earlier this month SpaceX released a few new videos of Lunar Starship Raptor testing. This included a descent burn test along with a chilled raptor ignition simulating the journey through space. Besides these examples, there have been a few other instances of progress on the lunar Starship. This makes sense as the company needs to have a working lunar variant ready by Artemis III where they plan to land humans on the surface.
At least that was the plan, however, new timelines and work within NASA mean Artemis III might not land humans on the surface at all. This would practically negate the lunar Starship for that specific mission as its main purpose is transporting humans from lunar orbit to the surface and back. This comes in addition to possible delays as the 2025 mission date becomes more ambitious by the day. Recent comments also highlight that some NASA officials are worried about the progress of SpaceX’s lunar lander. A system that still has quite a bit of work left before being ready for a Moon landing. Here I will go more in-depth into the progress on a lunar Starship, NASA’s concerns, possible Artemis III changes, and more.
Credit SpaceBucket