Starship Could be Ready for an Orbital Flight in May - Universe Today universetoday storybywill
– a Starlink competitor – announced that it had terminated its launch agreement with Roscosmos and signed a deal with SpaceX. Musk responded via Twitter and said that he didn’t expect to see a dramatic increase in launch services for his company, which was already launching two-thirds of the world’s satellites.
According to their original plans, said Musk, SpaceX would account for 65% of the market share for launch services. The termination of Russian launch services was likely to increase this to 70%, only slightly higher. He added that this would not affect the development of the Starship, which could be ready for its long-awaited orbital test flight by May . This estimate is largely based on the production of the new Raptor 2 engine.
The Raptor 2 is an updated version of the Raptor 1 and is simpler and more powerful than the original. Production began in December 2021 at SpaceX’s new engine development facility near McGregor, Texas. At the annual Starship Update hosted in February, Musk spoke about the capabilities of the Raptor 2, which included 230 metric tons of thrust at sea level. Based on their current production rates , Musk estimates that they will have 39 engines ready by April.
If this test flight goes as planned, SpaceX will be ready to embark on its first commercial flights, including a lunar flyby planned for 2023 . As part of NASA’s Artemis Program, the Starship was also selected to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Era. This will be the Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled to occur sometime in 2025.
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