SpaceX's Starship is preparing to enter its third test flight, promising many new milestones in its evolutionary journey and bringing it closer to its goal of being fully operational.
When the giant rocket is ready, we will have the opportunity to witness its great capabilities demonstrated in missions under signed commercial contracts.
The first of them is the contract to launch the Superbird 9 geostationary orbit communications satellite signed on August 19, 2022.
What's interesting is that the person willing to pay this time is Japan's SkyPerfect JSAT Corporation, considered a tycoon in the field of multi-channel satellite information and pay television in Asia.
So, when will it happen? How special is it?
Discuss everything about this in today's episode of TechMap.
But before we begin, our team extends a warm welcome.
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With that in mind, let's jump straight into today's episode.
After the success of IFT2, SpaceX plans to take its giant rocket to the next level, the second generation Starship containing more propellant, reducing mass and improving reliability.
Of course, SpaceX fans are holding out hope of seeing this variant carrying the company's first payload, Superbird 9, into GTO.
To be honest, JSAT isn't the first company that has floated the possibility of using Starship to launch paying satellites, but they appear to have become the first customer to sign a firm contract to do so.
Once this contract is completed, it will pave the way for the success of the following ones such as…
First is the DearMoon project which is a lunar tourism mission and art project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
It will make use of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the moon.
The project was unveiled in September 2018.
Second, the launch of Turkey's second domestically built communications satellite was revealed in May 2019 by SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, although her offhand mention has yet to translate into any official agreement.
Third in 2021, SpaceX bid Starship to launch NASA's tiny TROPICS weather satellite constellation, amounting to just roughly 56 kilograms, 124 pounds, for a price somewhere between $9 million and approximately $20 million.
Last but not least, the second Bluebird satellite launch contract with the mobile-friendly internet constellation startup ASET SpaceMobile was revealed in August 2022.
Currently, Superbird 9 is expected to enter service in 2027, delayed from previously planned 2024 operations.
The reason for this change was officially announced as the delay of both Starship and satellite.
As you know, after the explosion on OLM in April of this year, SpaceX's Starship test flight was held up by the FAA for seven months due to environmental concerns.
This directly put SpaceX in a difficult situation because the postponement of IFT2 means that the following programs, especially NASA's Artemis III, will also be delayed.
According to the latest report of the United States Government Accountability Office, the first crewed landing of the Artemis lunar exploration effort is unlikely to happen before 2027.
Currently, Elon's company is working around the clock to advance progress toward IFT3, which includes a propellant transfer demonstration, an essential part of Artemis.
Besides, SpaceX must also build confidence in Starship by launching its own products or Starlink satellites first, instead of risking customer payloads.
This hypothesis is consistent with the statement of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during the International Astronautical Congress 2023 event, where he was asked when Starship would be used to deploy Starlink satellites.
I think there's a good chance we start deploying Starlink V3 satellites next year roughly a year from now," he said.
The statement also appears to be the first time SpaceX has mentioned V3 Starlink satellites, an indicator the company is preparing more upgrades to the space-based Internet network.
This makes sense because early flights on a new rocket usually lead to loss.
Take, for example, the case of SpaceX's inaugural Falcon 1 when it was launched in a space shot staged from the United States military's Ronald Reagan ballistic missile test site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands.
But moments after ignition, webcast video from the rocket appeared to show a rolling motion before the feed was lost.
Details surrounding possible causes for the rocket's failure were not immediately available.
SpaceX now has its own Starlink payloads they can risk.
If it fails, they didn't let down an external customer.
If it succeeds, they get value from the lifetime of those Starlink satellites instead of one discount launch payment from a customer.
After a few successful flights in a row that may change, once it becomes clear, Starship can reliably make its orbital target.
Another thing is so far we haven't seen SpaceX build a cargo door for anything other than the flat Starlink satellites in PEZ dispenser format.
They'll have to tackle this at some point but it doesn't seem to be the priority when the HLS lander, refueling tankers and Starlink launches are already on their plate.
Fortunately, despite many obstacles causing Starship's timeline to be changed and other accompanying missions to be so, sky-perfect JSAT still maintains faith in SpaceX Starship project.
It clearly shows the huge potential that this giant rocket can bring to customers in the future.
First of all, we must mention Starship's unique features, which carry many promises for satellite operators.
First, its 9-meter wide fairing and virtually unlimited payload capacity pave the way for new satellite designs.
With larger antennas, solar panels or sensors, they could drastically increase their satellite's capex efficiency.
Large fairings also simplify architecture by partially removing the need for deployable structures and even costly miniaturization, one of the historical light motives of satellite design.
Hence, operators could move toward bulkier, less complex, easier to manufacture satellites.
Alongside superior capacity and volume, SpaceX has publicized a drastic reduction in launch cost and potentially launch prices owing to full reusability.
As all Starship elements are reused with enough launches, manufacturing costs per launch could be rendered insignificant, with the only additional costs being fuel and operations.
Elon Musk has publicized a launch cost of $100 per kilogram over numerous reuses.
Compared with about $2,300 per kilogram on Falcon Heavy at full capacity and $6,000 per kilogram entry price on transporter ride shares,
Starship could also bring new potential for rapid constellation batch deployment.
Large constellations are keen on deploying their satellites rapidly in order to begin operations as soon as possible.
With its capacity, Starship could theoretically deploy entire constellations in very few launches, re-igniting engines multiple times to reach several inclinations in one launch.
According to SpaceX, Starship could deploy over 50 second generation Starlink per launch.
Starship could even be used to address the small sat ride share launch market as a complementary market.
Still, this will likely be a low priority market in the foreseeable future.
There are many more propositions to leverage Starship's unprecedented dimensions.
And that just about wraps it up for today's episode.
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