Starship S39 with Raptor 3 Installed Ready to Firing! NASA Lunar Moonbase |SpaceWeekly #37

SpaceX is making steady progress with S-39 as it moves closer to its first static fire test for V3. At the same time, the company has introduced major new concepts, including a lunar mass driver and the TerraFab construction system. NASA has also unveiled a $20 billion U.S. dollar plan for a moon base while cancelling the Lunar Gateway, and has selected ULA's Centaur to replace Boeing's Exploration Upper Stage for launching Orion. Let's review the top spaceflight stories of the week in this episode of Great SpaceX. A month or less. That's likely all the time remaining until Flight 12, the first V3 flight. After progress on the booster, SpaceX is now turning its attention to the ship itself, signaling that key preparations are moving into place. Step by step, the full system is coming together, setting the stage for what could be a major milestone. But how far along is the flight, really? And with the timeline tightening, is an April launch truly within reach? March was packed with momentum. Much of that excitement came from the arrival of B-19, a major step forward for SpaceX. Its rollout led to three record-setting fuel-loading tests, and for the first time, a coordinated fire of the new Raptor 3 engine in an official setting. Now, the spotlight is shifting. With B-19 positioned at Megabay, attention turns to its partner, S-39. This vehicle returned from Massey on March 8 after successfully completing full cryogenic testing, a key milestone that cleared the way for the next phase. And that phase is already underway. After more than two weeks, inspections now appear to be complete and engine installation is underway. Recent images and video from March 22 show an engine being transported into Megabay 2. Only the upper section is available, but based on its size and geometry, it appears to be a Raptor vacuum engine. At this pace, installation is progressing rapidly, and may already be nearing completion. At the same time, new imagery confirms that the flight termination system has arrived at Starbase, most likely in preparation for Flight 12, though it remains unclear whether it is intended for S-39, B-19, or both. So what does this combination of developments suggest? If progress continues without interruption, S-39 could roll out for testing very soon. The expectation is clear. A test campaign could begin within this month. But the timing isn't straightforward. In recent weeks, SpaceX has taken a more deliberate approach, spending additional time verifying each stage of assembly. One key indicator to watch is the ship test stand, which still appears to be stationed at Massey. Its readiness will signal when rollout is imminent. The ground systems also matter. Massey has already supported cryogenic testing for this vehicle, so preparing it for static fire operations should be a manageable step. Still, everything must align before testing begins. When it does, S-39 will be operating at full strength. Unlike B-19, which initially tested with a limited engine set, this vehicle is expected to run all six engines from the start. While its total thrust is lower than a booster, it remains formidable, estimated at over 1,700 tons. That is less than a Super Heavy, but still more powerful than most operational rockets. This will also mark a first. It'll be the debut test of the V-3 ship configuration and the first time the upgraded Massey systems are used with this new generation. Previous tests with V-1 and V-2 performed well, especially with the flame trench system that helped manage exhaust and heat. But V-3 introduces significant changes, and the infrastructure has been upgraded to match. New hardware, including updated quick disconnect systems, has been designed specifically for this version. All of this raises the stakes. The upcoming static fire of S-39 is not just another test. It's a critical validation point. In the short term, it directly affects the timeline for Flight 12. A successful test could see S-39 return to Megabay in early April for final integration, strengthening the case for an April launch window. At the same time, B-19 is progressing through its own path. It's currently undergoing inspections following earlier fueling and static fire attempts. The next step will be installing the remaining engines building toward the full 33-engine test that SpaceX has planned. But challenges remain. During previous testing, the Raptor 3 ignition sequence showed signs of irregular behavior. There were also indications of a possible issue near the liquid oxygen tank. On top of that, parts of the ground system at the pad have required attention. All of these factors must be resolved before testing can move forward at full pace. In the best-case scenario, both B-19 and S-39 could be testing around the same time in early April. That would create a rare and powerful moment, with major test activity happening at both ends of Starbase. It's something we rarely see, but as operations scale up, it may soon become the norm. And beyond the schedule, there is a bigger picture. Flight 12 is more than just another launch. It's a proving ground for Raptor 3 in real flight conditions. These engines are central to everything that follows, from reaching orbit to maneuvering in space to returning and landing with precision. Every step ahead depends on what happens next, and it all begins with S-39 at Massey. So watch closely, because this test will shape everything that comes after. But it's not just S-39. Other parts of the system are evolving just as quickly. One of the latest developments is the appearance of the B-18.3 test tank hardware. In simple terms, a test tank is a dedicated section of a full prototype, built by SpaceX to push specific components to their limits and evaluate new upgrades before they are used on operational vehicles. And B-18.3 has already proven how valuable that process can be. Earlier testing at Massey put this hardware under extreme structural stress. It featured a hot staging section on top, but during one of those tests, the lower portion failed catastrophically. The structure ruptured under pressure, likely as part of an intentional push to find its limits. What remained intact, notably the hot staging section, was then removed and preserved for further use. Now, B-18.3 has returned, and it looks different. It appears to have been fitted with a newly reinforced ring, suggesting that the next round of testing will go even further. The upgraded structure hints at higher stress tolerances and more aggressive validation. On the morning of March 22nd, the hardware was rolled out of Megabay, likely heading back to Massey for another series of tests. But the most interesting changes are at the front. Around the mounting points of the grip fins, new attachment structures have been added. On previous boosters like B-19, the grip fins sit relatively close to the body, with their mounting mechanisms tucked deep inside for protection. These are critical systems, responsible for guiding the booster during descent, so shielding them from heat and stress has always been a priority. This design shifts that balance. The attachment points now appear extended outward, pushing the grip fins further away from the vehicle's body. That change could significantly alter how they perform. With more space to move, the fins may gain greater rotational freedom, improving control authority during descent. The added distance could also enhance leverage, allowing finer adjustments as aerodynamic forces act on the vehicle. In theory, it's a meaningful upgrade, but it comes with trade-offs. Moving these components outward exposes them more. While they do not face the full intensity of re-entry heating like other parts, they still endure repeated stress, vibration, and interaction with exhaust flow, especially from the upper stage during staging. Even with improvements introduced in V3, those forces have not disappeared entirely. Which means protection becomes just as important as performance. And that is exactly what this next round of testing will determine. At Massey, B18.3 will likely undergo further structural validation, possibly including suspended load testing and additional pressure cycles. These tests are designed to answer a simple question. Can the new design survive real-world conditions? For now, though, these upgrades are unlikely to make it onto Flight 12 hardware. With B19 approaching readiness and B18.3 still deep in testing, any major design changes will probably be reserved for future vehicles. That brings us to the next candidate. B20 is already inside Megabay 1. In mid-March, its transfer tube was delivered and installed, marking another step toward full assembly. From here, only the forward section remains, the part that includes the hot staging interface and the grid fin system. And that is where things get interesting. If these new attachment designs are ready in time, B20 could be the first booster to incorporate them into a full build. When that forward section rolls out, it may reveal whether this upgrade is moving from test hardware to operational reality. So once again, all eyes turn to the next rollout. Because with each new piece, SpaceX isn't just building rockets, they're refining them, one test at a time. You could say it's becoming increasingly clear that SpaceX is entering a critical phase of preparation, one that will define how quickly it can accelerate through the rest of the year. At this point, Flight 12 is not expected before April. That means an entire quarter has passed without a launch and more than five months have gone by since the last Starship flight. For a program built on rapid iteration, that gap is significant. And the timing matters. The introduction of V3 marks a turning point. This is the phase where Starship is expected to transition from experimental testing into a more operational system. The roadmap is demanding, with a major milestone tied to the Artemis program. Specifically, the timeline is working toward the Artemis 3 mission, where Starship will be required to demonstrate docking capabilities with the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit. That deadline, set around mid-2027, leaves little room for delays. Before reaching that point, Starship must prove several core capabilities. It needs to reliably reach orbit, return safely, and demonstrate in-orbit refueling, one of the most complex operations ever attempted in spaceflight. None of these are optional. Each is a prerequisite for supporting crewed lunar missions. And this is not happening in isolation. Blue Origin remains an active competitor, continuing to develop its own lunar lander systems. Their recent progress, including new iterations of the Bloon Moon concept, signals clear intent, their will to stay in the race. That competitive pressure only adds to the urgency. For SpaceX, the challenge is not just technical, it's also about time. The later Flight 12 launches, the more compressed the schedule becomes. Every delay pushes critical testing, validation, and iteration further into a narrowing window, and the tasks ahead are anything but simple. Beyond the main Starship system, there's also the HLS variant. This version carries additional requirements, particularly around crew safety. NASA has already raised concerns, especially regarding the elevator system used to move astronauts between the vehicle and the lunar surface. Addressing those concerns will require not just design refinement, but visible progress, likely in the form of dedicated prototypes. And that is only part of the workload. At the same time, SpaceX has outlined longer-term ambitions, including concepts like a lunar mass driver and large-scale infrastructures such as TerraFab. These projects extend far beyond near-term missions, but they still compete for the same resources, engineering focus, and development time, which is why the current phase matters so much. The preparation for Flight 12 is more than just another test cycle. It's a signal. A successful sequence of static fires, system checks, and eventual launch would demonstrate that V3 is ready to move forward at pace. It would show that the long gap between flights has translated into meaningful upgrades, not stagnation. And it would lay the foundation for what comes next. Because once those initial hurdles are cleared, the cadence must increase. Launches will need to become more frequent. Testing will need to become more aggressive. And parallel development across vehicles, infrastructure, and mission profiles will need to happen without delay. This is the phase where momentum is either regained or lost. One system at a time, one test at a time, one flight at a time. And with each step, the path toward the moon becomes either clearer or further away. Here we go. To the moon. SpaceX and Musk are showing renewed determination in their push toward lunar development, now exploring the ambitious mass driver concept. The effort may soon be reinforced by TerraFab, a bold new system that has just been revealed. Going back to the moon has long been one of America's defining goals for this decade. For many, the objective is straightforward. Return, explore, and perhaps establish a few early bases, much like the first steps taken in the last century. But SpaceX is thinking far beyond that. If Starship already represents a leap in capability, the company is now introducing an even more ambitious concept, the mass driver. This idea has been discussed before, but on March 21st, SpaceX formally revealed new details in a post on X titled Electromagnetic Mass Driver on the Moon, accompanied by a detailed video presentation. At its core, the mass driver is an expansive launch system built directly on the lunar surface. It consists of a long acceleration track potentially stretching for tens of kilometers, gradually rising along its length. The structure would be supported by reinforced pillars, forming a stable foundation across the terrain. At one end sits a processing and staging facility. Payloads such as satellites would be assembled and stacked before being transferred onto the track. The setup is conceptually similar to how Starship deploys payloads, but taken to a much larger and more powerful scale. Instead of using chemical propulsion, the mass driver relies on electromagnetic acceleration. Hundreds of superconducting coils would line the track, generating powerful magnetic fields. As payloads move along the rail, their speed would steadily increase until at the end of the track, where they are launched into space. On the Moon, where gravity is much weaker, reaching orbital velocity requires about 2.38 kilometers per second. The mass driver is designed to achieve exactly that. Each payload would be mounted in a magnetic bucket, allowing it to levitate above the track. With no physical contact, there is effectively no friction and minimal wear. This opens the door to a system capable of operating repeatedly, potentially handling millions of launches over its lifetime. The concept is similar to magnetic levitation systems used in advanced rail transport, where vehicles float above the track rather than touching it. On the Moon, the absence of an atmosphere provides another advantage. Payloads would not experience aerodynamic heating during launch, reducing the need for heavy protective shielding. Powering such a system, however, is no small task. The energy requirements would be immense, ranging from gigawatts to potentially terawatts. SpaceX envisions meeting this demand through large-scale solar arrays combined with high-capacity energy storage systems. If realized, the implications are significant. Rather than building a small, isolated base and slowly expanding, this approach aims for scale from the beginning. A mass driver could enable rapid deployment of satellites and infrastructure, accelerating the development of a fully functional lunar ecosystem. This aligns with the broader vision of Musk, who has repeatedly emphasized expansion beyond Earth. As he put it, in order to understand the universe, you must explore the universe. That vision goes further than most current plans. While many organizations are focused on establishing limited research bases, SpaceX has spoken about building a true lunar city within the next decade. A city implies not just survival, but infrastructure capable of supporting a large and active population. The mass driver would play a key role in that vision, enabling frequent and efficient launches from the Moon itself. This could support satellite networks, logistics, and broader industrial activity, helping humanity establish a lasting presence beyond Earth. But the challenges are just as large as the ambition. Building such infrastructure on the Moon would require an enormous initial effort. Robotics, human labor, and repeated transport missions would all be necessary. Much depends on Starship's ability to deliver materials and equipment at scale, something that is still being developed. There are also technical hurdles. Payloads must withstand extreme acceleration forces, and the electromagnetic systems must operate with precision and reliability. Every component would need to be engineered for durability in a harsh lunar environment. For now, this remains a long-term goal. Even Musk has acknowledged the timeline, suggesting it is something he hopes to see within his lifetime, rather than in the immediate future. Still, the concept offers a glimpse of what the next phase of space exploration could look like. So the question is simple. Is a lunar mass driver truly feasible? Let me know with a yes or a no, and share your prediction for when it might become reality. And don't forget to like the video and subscribe to follow SpaceX's journey as it continues to push the boundaries of what's possible. In his recent presentation, alongside the mass driver concept, Musk introduced another ambitious initiative, TerraFab. This project is envisioned as a joint effort across his companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, and XAI. Musk describes it as the most significant chip manufacturing effort ever attempted. As he put it, We either build the TerraFab or we don't have the chips. And we need the chips, so we're gonna build TerraFab. TerraFab is the name given to a next-generation semiconductor facility on an unprecedented scale. The term Terra reflects its size and ambition. According to current plans, the complex would span thousands of acres, covering up to 100 million square feet. Musk claims it could exceed the combined footprint of all existing facilities across his companies. What makes TerraFab different is not just its size, but its level of integration. The facility is designed to combine logic chips, memory production, and advanced packaging within a single location. This kind of vertical integration could streamline production and reduce inefficiencies that exist in today's fragmented semiconductor supply chains. Operationally, the approach is equally unconventional. Musk explained, TerraFab will technically be two fabs, each making only one chip design. This greatly simplifies process flow and allows more linear adjacent movement of the FOUP. A super high production rate allows us to test very quickly what steps can be deleted, simplified, or sped up even after the design is fixed. Current fabs are extremely conservative, operating on rigid historical heuristics, which are mostly, but not all, correct. He added, In any event, there is no other way to reach extreme scale, so either we make TerraFab, or we will be stuck at the approximately 20% chip-slash-memory output growth per year of the current industry. The scale of the target is staggering. The goal is to produce more than 1 terawatt of AI compute capacity per year. That is roughly double the current electricity consumption of the United States and represents a production rate far beyond today's semiconductor industry. Musk has suggested that about 20% of this output would support applications on Earth, including Tesla systems and the Optimus robot, while a portion would be allocated to space-based infrastructure. That includes powering systems like the lunar mass driver. In fact, SpaceX has framed the project in broader terms, stating, We're building TerraFab to close the gap between today's chip production and the future's demand, a future among the stars. Looking beyond Earth, TerraFab chips are expected to play a role in a new generation of AI-driven satellites. These systems could be deployed using the mass driver, forming a network to support operations on the Moon and deeper into space. One concept already revealed is the AISAT-Mini. This satellite is described as reaching lengths of up to 170 meters, making it larger than even current Starship variants. It would be built around expansive solar arrays and supported by a large fuel cell system. Each unit is expected to generate around 100 kilowatts of power dedicated to onboard AI processing. Taken together, these plans point to a much broader strategy. SpaceX and Musk are not just building rockets or vehicles, they're attempting to create a fully integrated technological ecosystem, where launch systems, energy production, computing power, and artificial intelligence all work together across Earth and space. The long-term goal is clear, to dramatically expand computing capability beyond our planet. Musk has even suggested scaling space-based compute to the petawatt level, equivalent to 1,000 terawatts, using systems like TerraFab and orbital AI platforms. It's an ambitious vision, one that pushes far beyond current industry limits. What do you think of the TerraFab plan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned, because we will continue to break down these developments in more detail in future episodes. Wow, this is a major shift. NASA has just unveiled a new concept for a Moon base while at the same time, moving away from the Lunar Gateway. So what does this new plan actually involve and why step back from Gateway now? Landing astronauts on the Moon is only the beginning. The real objective for any major space program is to stay. For years, much of that vision has been tied to SpaceX and Starship. But now, NASA is putting forward a plan of its own, a Moon base project valued at up to 20 billion US dollars. Even Elon Musk reacted with a simple, The question is whether this becomes a breakthrough or another program that struggles under cost and complexity like the SLS. The project was introduced during a NASA press conference, following earlier commitments from Administrator Jared Isaacman. He outlined the ambition clearly. NASA is committed to achieving the near-impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump's term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space. This time, the plan is more than a concept. It's structured, phased, and detailed. According to Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, NASA is shifting toward a focused architecture that builds capabilities step-by-step, aligning closely with industry and international partners. The roadmap is divided into three phases. Phase 1, Build, Test, Learn, is about increasing activity and learning quickly. Through programs like Commercial Lunar Payload Services and the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Initiative, NASA will move away from rare custom missions and toward a repeatable system. More launches, more payloads, more data. Rovers, instruments, and technology demonstrations will improve mobility, power systems such as radioisotope units, communications, navigation, and surface operations. Phase 2 builds on that foundation. This is where early infrastructure begins to take shape. Semi-habitable systems, regular logistics, and recurring astronaut missions become possible. International partners play a major role here, including Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which is contributing a pressurized rover, alongside other agencies providing payloads, mobility systems, and support technologies. Phase 3 is the transition to permanence. Once landers like Starship HLS can reliably deliver cargo, NASA will deploy larger infrastructure to support long-duration human presence. Contributions from the Italian Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency will expand habitats, logistics, and surface mobility. The timeline is ambitious and tightly packed. Phase 1 runs from 2026 to 2028. Phase 2 follows from 2029 to 2032. By 2033, Phase 3 begins, marking the start of a permanent base. If everything stays on track, NASA could establish a sustained presence on the Moon by 2033 to 2034, potentially ahead of the International Lunar Research Station. The cost is just as significant. Phase 1 is estimated at $10 billion. Phase 2 adds another $10 billion, and operational costs beyond that could push the total even higher. And the scale of activity is enormous. Phase 1 alone calls for 24 launches. Phase 2 increases to 27, and Phase 3 to 28. This is not a single mission. It's a continuous campaign to build, test, and expand. NASA is also introducing new tools to support that effort. One of the most interesting is the Moonfall Drone System. These are highly mobile, self-landing spacecraft designed to explore the lunar South Pole. Each drone can perform multiple powered hops, covering about 50 kilometers, reaching altitudes of about 1 kilometer, and completing short survey missions in roughly 150 seconds. Equipped with instruments like optical cameras, they are built to access terrain that traditional rovers cannot reach. But to fully commit to building on the surface, NASA made a decisive move. The Lunar Gateway has been officially paused in its current form. NASA stated, The agency intends to pause Gateway in its current form and shift focus to infrastructure that enables sustained surface operations. After years of debate, that decision is not entirely surprising. Gateway faced ongoing criticism over high costs, delays, and increasing complexity. For newer systems like Starship, routing through an orbital station adds extra steps compared to direct missions to the surface. At the same time, Gateway was an international collaboration. NASA has made it clear that existing hardware will not be wasted. Instead, components will be repurposed, and partner contributions will be redirected to support the new surface-focused strategy. Financially, the shift is striking. Gateway was expected to cost around $20 billion, which is roughly the same as the Moonbase project. Redirecting those resources allows NASA to concentrate funding, workforce, and momentum on building directly on the Moon. The direction is now clear. Less focus on orbit, more focus on the surface. A shift from visiting the Moon to living there. It's an ambitious plan with tight timelines and enormous technical demands. But if it succeeds, it will mark the moment humanity moves beyond exploration and begins building a lasting presence beyond Earth. So the question remains, is this the step that finally makes a lunar base a reality, or another vision that proves more difficult to achieve than expected? Be sure to like and subscribe so you can stay up to date on what comes next. NASA's update to the Artemis program goes further than many expected. The upper stage of the SLS built by Boeing has been cancelled. That raises an obvious question. What will replace it? NASA has confirmed the answer. The Centaur V upper stage developed by ULA. Why was a vehicle from ULA selected? What advantages does it offer? And was this the right decision for NASA? As mentioned earlier, NASA's recent changes to the Artemis program are significant. The agency wants the SLS to fly more often. To make that possible, NASA plans to simplify the rocket and continue using its current version rather than upgrading to the larger SLS Block 1B. Because of this shift, some components will be cancelled. One of those is the SLS exploration upper stage, which was being developed by Boeing. In a recent update, NASA explained the decision clearly. The agency is no longer planning to use the exploration upper stage or Mobile Launcher 2 as development of both has faced delays. The reasons behind this change are straightforward. The Boeing-built upper stage has struggled with delays and rising costs, concerns highlighted in an August 2024 report from NASA's Office of Inspector General. Another limitation involves the current interim upper stage used on early SLS flights. Although it's built by ULA, it is derived from the second stage of the now-retired Delta 4 rocket. Since Delta 4 production has ended, that hardware cannot be manufactured indefinitely. Hints about the new direction also appeared in updated graphics of future Artemis missions. In those images, the upper stage used for launching Orion on Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 looks different from the stage shown on later missions, starting with Artemis 4. Many observers suspected the replacement might be ULA's Centaur V. As it turns out, that prediction was correct. A NASA procurement document confirmed that the Centaur V upper stage currently used on ULA's Vulcan rocket has been selected. The filing titled, Justification for other than full and open competition allows NASA to move forward with a sole source contract with ULA. Under the plan, Centaur upper stages will support the Artemis 4 and 5 missions, with an additional stage purchased as a spare. In the filing, NASA stated, NASA-MSFC has a requirement for next-generation upper stages for use in SLS, Artemis 4, and Artemis 5. The agency also explained that it intends to issue a sole source contract to ULA because of the specialized nature of the requirement. That leads to the next question, why was the Centaur V chosen? One reason is performance. Among traditional upper stages currently in service, the Centaur V provides strong thrust. Compared with the cancelled exploration upper stage, Centaur V is smaller but produces nearly twice the thrust, making it well-suited for launching heavy payloads such as lunar landers. Another major factor is time. NASA needs a solution that already exists and can be used quickly. Developing a new stage would take many years, something the Artemis schedule could not easily accommodate. By choosing Centaur V, NASA can rely on hardware that is already flying. The stage also shares an important technology with the cancelled exploration upper stage. Both use the RL-10 engine, a design that has flown for decades. Because the engine is well understood and already in production, NASA can avoid the cost and risk of developing new propulsion systems. The Centaur V is also part of ULA's Vulcan rocket, which has already begun flying. ULA itself is a long-time partner of NASA, with decades of experience supporting government launches. Compatibility is another advantage. Centaur V uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, the same propellants used by the SLS core stage. This makes it easier to integrate the stage with existing SLS ground systems. Some may wonder about other options. For example, the upper stage of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket also uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, powered by BE-3U engines. However, NASA explained that this stage would require major changes to work with the SLS. Flight experience also played a role. New Glenn has only completed a small number of missions so far, which may not yet provide the reliability record NASA wants for critical crewed lunar missions. NASA summarized the reasoning clearly. This approach uses existing infrastructure and requires only relatively small modifications to an upper stage that already exists. The agency ultimately concluded that United Launch Alliance's experience and flight history with the Centaur design make it the most practical option available today for supporting future Artemis missions. So, what do you think about NASA's decision? Let me know with a agree or disagree in the comments section. And don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel to keep following the latest developments in the journey toward the moon. Now, calling this decision completely rational may still be premature. Despite its advantages, Centaur V raises several concerns. The first is production. It's built using relatively traditional manufacturing processes, which are slower than the high-rate methods used by some newer launch companies. ULA says it has sufficient capacity, but outside observers cannot fully verify that claim. Cost is another factor. Slower production often leads to higher prices, and purchasing multiple upper stages will likely require significant funding from NASA. Demand also adds pressure. ULA will need many Centaur V stages for its Vulcan rocket, although Vulcan has flown only a few missions so far. The company still already has a long list of upcoming launches. Under national security launch contracts alone, ULA is expected to complete more than 20 missions in Phase 2, with many more planned in Phase 3. Vulcan is also scheduled to support Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spacecraft and deploy large numbers of Amazon's Kuiper satellites. All of those missions require upper stages, raising an important question. Can ULA produce enough Centaur V stages for both Vulcan launches and NASA's Artemis missions? Reliability is another consideration. While Centaur technology has decades of heritage, the Centaur V design experienced problems during testing. In 2023, a prototype developed a liquid hydrogen leak during a pressure test. The escaping hydrogen accumulated and ignited, destroying the test article. The issue appears to have been resolved, and Centaur V has performed well on Vulcan flights so far. Still, the incident highlights the challenges of working with hydrogen. Like earlier SLS upper stages, Centaur V uses liquid hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is extremely light and difficult to contain, and even small leaks can create problems. NASA has already faced similar issues during the Artemis program. Hydrogen leaks delayed preparations for Artemis I and raised concerns during work leading up to Artemis II. Integrating Centaur V into the SLS system could introduce similar challenges. Launch operations will involve both NASA and ULA teams, which may add complexity. All of this leads to a larger question. NASA hopes to launch SLS missions roughly every 10 months, rather than once every several years. Achieving that pace would require steady production, while ULA also supports its own missions. In the end, using Centaur V may solve some problems for Artemis, but it also introduces new ones that NASA and ULA will need to manage carefully. In this situation, NASA will likely continue relying heavily on spacecraft developed by private companies, especially those built by SpaceX. Which brings us to Starship, and it's fair to say that Starship, especially the HLS variant, has not progressed as quickly as many expected. Nearly three years after its first flight test, many hoped it would have already demonstrated capabilities such as reaching orbit, carrying operational payloads, or achieving full reusability. Those milestones may arrive with the V3 design, but that stage has not yet begun flight testing. The first V3 launch is still ahead. The HLS version also remains somewhat mysterious. Although updates and leaked images have appeared, a completed prototype has not been clearly revealed. It's believed to still be under construction or stored at a secure facility, leaving questions about its readiness. Because of this, the coming year will be critical for SpaceX. The company must show clear progress to validate its technology and define its role in the Artemis program. The timeline is tight. Artemis 3 is expected next year, when docking tests with the Orion spacecraft may begin. Two crewed lunar landing missions are also planned for 2028, where SpaceX could cooperate with or compete against companies such as Blue Origin. Despite these challenges, Starship offers capabilities no other system currently matches. Its enormous size could allow it to carry far more cargo and personnel than traditional spacecraft, potentially accelerating the construction of lunar bases. If orbital refueling succeeds, Starship could even transport crews directly from Earth to distant destinations and back. Another advantage is its fuel choice. Starship uses liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Methane is generally easier to manage than hydrogen because it is less prone to leaking, and it could potentially be produced on Mars using local resources. Starship may also serve roles beyond transportation. After landing on the Moon or Mars, the vehicle itself could become part of a surface base. In orbit, it could function as a large space station module with far more interior space than current designs. Taken together, these possibilities explain why Starship continues to attract so much attention. While the program still faces major hurdles, its long-term potential could reshape how humans explore and settle the solar system. It's clear, though, that NASA is making a major shift in the Artemis program. The removal of the EUS and the interim cryogenic propulsion stage was likely unavoidable given the production problems both systems have faced. The decision has signaled that slow development cycles and delayed hardware will struggle to keep up in the new era of space exploration. At the same time, choosing the Centaur V from ULA raises questions. In the short term, it may be the most practical option. The hardware already exists, has proven heritage, and could be integrated with the current SLS system with relatively limited changes. But the long-term outlook is less certain. Production speed, cost, and growing demand for launch vehicles could all affect whether this solution remains sustainable. Because of this, SpaceX's Starship will likely continue to hold a unique role in lunar exploration. Its size, power, and potential for full reusability could eventually reshape how missions to the Moon are carried out. The key challenge for SpaceX now is proving that the system can reach its full potential. Upcoming tests will determine whether Starship can deliver on its promises and secure its place in the future of lunar exploration. For now, the Artemis program is clearly entering a new phase. As NASA adjusts its plans and new technologies continue to emerge, the path back to the Moon may still bring many more changes. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, this has been Kevin from GreatSpaceX. Until next time, keep looking up.