NASA, SpaceX Advance Wind Tunnel Tests for Starship Rocket

2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system. Credits: NASA NASA and its industry partners are preparing for next year’s Artemis III demonstration mission by completing new wind tunnel tests on SpaceX’s Super Heavy Version 3 rocket booster. The tests, conducted at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, focused on better understanding the extreme aerodynamic forces the rocket can experience during re-entry.

The recent test series builds on  previous testing  completed at NASA Ames in 2024. NASA is working with SpaceX to develop the company’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) to safely carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back. The upgraded Super Heavy rocket booster is part of SpaceX’s Starship launch system.

Version 3 of Starship and Super Heavy is expected to be the basis for the Starship HLS for Artemis III in 2027 and a later crewed lunar landing in 2028. 2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system. 2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system.

2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system. 2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system. NASA Although Starship HLS is a lunar lander designed and built by SpaceX, NASA collaborates with commercial companies to provide access to specialized testing facilities, like the wind tunnels at NASA Ames, and technical expertise, such as the team that set up the wind tunnel testing and helped analyze the results.

“NASA has a lot of experience with unsteady aerodynamics,” said Manish Mehta, discipline lead engineer for the HLS Plume and Aero Environments team, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “We used the agency’s broad experience base of conducting wind tunnel tests for the space shuttle, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, and Orion spacecraft to efficiently set up and analyze the wind tunnel testing for the Super Heavy Version 3. ” Testing SpaceX’s Starship consists of a 33-engine first-stage Super Heavy rocket, or booster, and the second-stage Starship.

Version 3 of Super Heavy incorporates many new and upgraded systems, including: New propulsion systems and new Raptor 3 rocket engines No engine section skirt, individual engine shrouds, or integrated large-scale base heat shield Three gridfins on the Super Heavy booster instead of four, with each fin now 50% larger An integrated hot stage replacing the previous single-use protective interstage With significant changes to Super Heavy, NASA and SpaceX engineers wanted more information about the steady and unsteady aerodynamic forces the rocket will experience during atmospheric re-entry as it returns to the launch site for refurbishment and re-use. “When a rocket, or an airplane, flies through air at high speed, it’s subjected to steady aerodynamic forces and moments, and unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments,” explained Jayanta Panda, unsteady aerodynamics subject matter expert at NASA Ames and part of the Human Landing System Plume and Aero Environments team. “An example of a steady aerodynamic force would be when air smoothly flows over the surface of the rocket as it ascends.

2% scale model of the Super Heavy Version 3 in the  transonic wind tunnel  and the  supersonic wind tunnel  at NASA Ames for testing. 4 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound, or about 761 miles per hour). 5.

  “Resulting wind tunnel data on steady forces and moments helps predict how the rocket will react to forces in the atmosphere during re-entry so the flight software can effectively guide the rocket during flight,” Mehta said. “The unsteady pressure data helps engineers understand the environment around the rocket as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere. ” Through the Artemis program, NASA is returning humans to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic opportunity, to establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.