/sci/ - Science & Math

https://spacenews.com/nasa-concerned-starship-problems-will-delay-artemis-3/

> Free said NASA’s concern is the number of launches of Starship that SpaceX has to carry out to be ready for Artemis 3. Each Starship lander mission requires launching the Starship lander itself as well as several “tanker” Starships to fuel the lander in Earth orbit before it goes to the moon. Before Artemis 3, SpaceX will carry out an uncrewed Starship lunar landing, and also must demonstrate cryogenic fluid transfer in Earth orbit.

> “That’s a lot of launches to get those missions done,” Free said. “They have a significant number of launches to go, and that, of course, gives me concern about the December of 2025 date” for Artemis 3.

>He reiterated those schedule concerns later in the meeting when asked about the schedule for Artemis 3. “With the difficulties that SpaceX has had, I think that’s really concerning,” he said. “You can think about that slipping probably into ’26.”

> NASA has personnel involved in the investigation of the launch, and Free said he had just met with a Federal Aviation Administration official about it. “They’re doing everything they can, but they look at the launch license for the next mission,” he said of the FAA. “What I tried to convey to him is our big picture of everything that’s going to take to get to that human lander.”

> “I get a lot of questions, ‘Will you make the date?’ Well, they need to get flying before we can get any kind of assessment,” he concluded.

> He said he was confident that SpaceX would ultimately deliver the Starship lander, and noted that the fixed-price structure of the Human Landing System award shields NASA from additional costs. “But, the fact is, if they’re not flying on the time they’ve said, it does us no good to have a firm fixed price contract other than we’re not paying more.”