SpaceX shows off progress on its lunar Starship

NASA is short of options when it comes to alternatives

SpaceX has published an update on its lunar Starship progress, and it still has a long way to go before the impressive-looking renders are translated into reality.

Yesterday's briefing followed an announcement earlier this month by acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy who said SpaceX was behind schedule, and the contract to land astronauts on the Moon for the Artemis III mission was being reopened.

SpaceX has now responded with a lengthy update that is big on promises but somewhat light on actual progress. SpaceX said it had completed 49 milestones "tied to developing the subsystems, infrastructure, and operations needed to land astronauts on the Moon, the vast majority of which have been achieved on time or ahead of schedule."

However, performing a software architecture review and qualifying a docking adaptor based on the existing Dragon 2 docking system remains quite some way from demonstrating long-duration flight and in-space propellant transfer. SpaceX said, "Both of these tests are targeted to take place in 2026."

Although it presented renders showing the vast space available within the Starship HLS, the corporation did not give a timescale for when a lunar landing might take place. It said: "we've shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the Moon while simultaneously improving crew safety."

The Register asked SpaceX for more details on this "simplified mission architecture," but it has yet to respond. The current plan calls for up to 100 tons to be carried directly to the lunar surface by Starship. If this were reduced, fewer in-space refueling flights will be needed. In addition, if a shortened variant of Starship were produced purely for the lunar landing, other concerns (such as the rocket tipping over) would also go away.

The Starship architecture raises questions about stability on uneven terrain. SpaceX completed a "landing leg drop test of a full-scale article at flight energies onto simulated lunar regolith," yet details remain scarce.

The uncomfortable truth is that SpaceX is likely NASA's only option for landing astronauts on the Moon before President Donald Trump's current term ends in January 2029 — far less time than it took Grumman to go from contract award (April 1962) to Armstrong's first steps (July 1969).

Duffy's intervention forced SpaceX to publish a progress update, yet that update has only served to highlight how work remains to be done. The company, for example, hasn't even fabricated a flight-capable lander cabin for demonstration and training.

SpaceX claims it "shares the goal of returning to the Moon as expeditiously as possible, approaching the mission with the same alacrity and commitment that returned human spaceflight capability to America under NASA's Commercial Crew program."

When SpaceX was awarded a Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract in 2014, NASA aimed to end its reliance on Russia by 2017. The first crewed mission by the company didn't happen until 2020.

While there were a number of reasons for the delay, including SpaceX exploding a Crew Dragon during testing, it is a curious definition for "alacrity." ®