Successful Starship IFT-11 marks progress, but SpaceX faces rising HLS competition
After a successful test flight of its Starship-Super Heavy combination (IFT-10), SpaceX repeated the feat with IFT-11 - the final flight of the v2 version.
IFT-11 lifted off from its Starbase launch site, near Boca Chica in Texas, US at 2323 GMT on 13 October. All 33 Raptor engines were fired successfully during the first stage burn. Starship’s six engines were then fired just before the ‘hot staging’ first stage separation at T+ two minutes 39 seconds. As planned, the Super Heavy Booster 15 (on its second flight) completed a flip-over manoeuvre and burn to fire itself back to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, it used 12 engines (it was supposed to use 13) to slow itself into a soft splashdown after a brief hover – a new technique being tested for future missions.
Meanwhile, Starship 38 carried on its suborbital trajectory at near orbital velocity, marking its first flight. After a shutdown of the engines, and with Starship out of the atmosphere, it deployed eight dummy satellites (simulated Starlink communications satellites). It then re-lit one of its vacuum-optimised Raptor engines in a simulation of a de-orbit burn.
Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, gathering extensive data on the performance of its heatshield during the process. The thermal protection system was intentionally stressed by the attitude and trajectory to test the limits of the vehicle’s capabilities. The company will soon move to a fully orbital v3 version which is expected to benefit from the discoveries from the V2 version’s flights.
In the final minutes of flight, Starship performed a ‘dynamic banking manoeuvre’ to mimic a turning manoeuvre that future orbital missions will use to return to Starbase. One hour and six minutes after lift-off, at 0029 GMT on 14 October, Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean, successfully executing a landing flip, burn, and soft splashdown. The upper stage still showed orange-coloured oxidation of its other thermal protection system - an indication that rapid reuse without extensive renovation may still be out of reach for SpaceX.
The descent and landing of the Starship craft can be seen here:
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1978179844656480423
Starship schedule delays might mean that SpaceX misses out on lunar landing glory
The decision to use Starship as the initial HLS was mainly because its development was much further than other designs. It was therefore deemed to hold less technical risk. However, despite the latest launch success, SpaceX is running well behind its schedule to test its Starship HLS (Human Landing System) ahead of its planned Artemis 3 mission.
Mindful of this, and the fact that China is close to making its own human landing attempt, NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy has pushed to re-open the HLS craft competition. “We’re opening this up to Blue Origin and maybe others to foster competition and get us back to the Moon before the end of President Trump’s term in January 2029,” said Duffy in a follow-up interview on MSNBC.
The “others” Duffy referred to may include Lockheed Martin, believed to be working on a lander, and Dynetics which was an original contender for the HLS contract.
Full circle for Blue Origin
Blue Origin has become the likeliest contender for the Artemis HLS.
Blue Origin will either accelerate the development of its Blue Moon Mk2 human lander and ascent vehicle – a derivative of the Blue Moon unmanned lunar lander – or build a smaller lander based on its unmanned Mk1 version, which is already flying.
This opportunity is not the first for Blue Origin’s HLS ambitions. In April 2021 the firm made a bid for HLS but its Blue Moon Mk 2 lander design was passed over in favour of Starship. However, NASA later selected Blue Moon Mk 2 as a follow-on lander for further lunar exploration.
The arguments for picking Blue Origin this time include a faster completion, the need for fewer refuelling operations per landing (Starship requires more than ten), and the prospect of a more stable landing due to its shorter stature.
The Blue Moon Mk 2 lander is set to be ready for the Artemis V landing mission in 2030 - it may be possible to accelerate its development timeline. Alternatively, it might be even faster to convert Blue Origin’s uncrewed Mk 1 version, which is already operational, to create a smaller human lunar landing craft.
Elon Musk is not happy with the HLS being reopened and has publicly derided Blue Origin’s orbital space launch record: it has yet to launch to orbit. Meanwhile, SpaceX has responded to criticism over its complicated refuelling HLS regime by designing and assessing ‘simplified mission architecture for the early HLS landing missions - though it has not yet released further details.
Update on 5 November:
In an unexpected twist, President Donald Trump has renominated Jared Isaacman for the position of NASA Administrator. It feels like a déjà vu moment, not least for Isaacman who responded to the news in a post on X that was reminiscent of his response when he was nominated by Trump the first time around – in December 2024.
However, his hopes were dashed on the cusp of being confirmed into the role - when Trump abruptly withdrew his support. Although no official reason was given by the White House, it came on the heels of the President’s then much publicised fall-out with Elon Musk (Isaacman is known to be an ally of Musk). For this reason, Isaacman’s renomination may signal a thawing of relations between President Trump and his former “special government employee”.
For Interim Administrator Sean Duffy the decision means that he will lose this part of his job. He will remain as Secretary for Transport. Whether his decision to reopen the HLS competition - a move that Musk was especially critical of – will be upheld, is unclear.
We will have to wait and see, as the Senate considers Isaacman’s nomination (again).
Farah Ghouri contributed to this story.