{"id":1209048,"date":"2023-12-05T20:06:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T01:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209048"},"modified":"2023-12-05T20:06:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T01:06:38","slug":"nasa-says-spacexs-next-starship-flight-could-test-refueling-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209048","title":{"rendered":"NASA says SpaceX\u2019s next Starship flight could test refueling tech"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"rss-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ship28-1-800x493-1.jpg\" alt=\"A crane is attached to one of several Starship test vehicles at SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. This vehicle, called Ship 28, could launch on the next Starship test flight.\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\" style=\"font-size:0.8em\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ship28-1.jpg\" class=\"enlarge-link\" data-height=\"1109\" data-width=\"1800\">Enlarge<\/a> <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> A crane is attached to one of several Starship test vehicles at SpaceX&#8217;s Starbase facility in South Texas. This vehicle, called Ship 28, could launch on the next Starship test flight. <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<div><a name=\"page-1\" \/><\/div>\n<p>SpaceX and NASA could take a tentative step toward orbital refueling on the next test flight of Starship, but the US space agency says officials haven&#8217;t made a final decision on when to begin demonstrating cryogenic propellant transfer capabilities that are necessary to return astronauts to the Moon.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is keen on demonstrating orbital refueling technology, an advancement that could lead to propellant depots in space to feed rockets heading to distant destinations beyond Earth orbit. In 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/science\/2020\/10\/nasa-makes-a-significant-investment-in-on-orbit-spacecraft-refueling\/\">NASA announced agreements with four companies<\/a>\u2014Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, and a Florida-based startup named Eta Space\u2014to prove capabilities in the area of refueling and propellant depots using cryogenic propellants.<\/p>\n<p>These cryogenic fluids\u2014liquid hydrogen, methane, and liquid oxygen\u2014must be kept at temperatures of several hundred degrees below zero, or they turn into a gas and boil off. Russian supply freighters regularly refuel the International Space Station with hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, room-temperature rocket propellants that can be stored for years in orbit, but rockets using more efficient super-cold propellants have typically needed to complete their missions within hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1988814#p3\">Read 27 remaining paragraphs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1988814&amp;comments=1\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: Ars Technica &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1988814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA says SpaceX\u2019s next Starship flight could test refueling tech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enlarge \/ A crane is attached to one of several Starship test vehicles at SpaceX&#8217;s Starbase facility in South Texas. This vehicle, called Ship 28, could launch on the next Starship test flight. SpaceX and NASA could take a tentative &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209048\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1209049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,110],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-1209048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-technica","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-ars-technica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1209048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1209049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1209048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1209048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1209048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}