Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Oct. 19, according to a SpaceX executive, it is "hard to say" when the starship will be ready to become NASA's lunar lander. He claimed that various regulations hindered additional flight test work. William Gerstenmeier (William Gerstenmaier) is SpaceX's vice president in charge of building starships and verifying flight reliability. He told a US Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the starship had been ready for more than a month but was still waiting for regulatory approval.

William Gerstenmeier said: "it is difficult to give a specific date." He believes that the lag in regulatory work should not affect the company's flight test plans.

SpaceX has been developing starships that can be used for space freight and eventually send humans to the moon and Mars. NASA has awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to use a starship to send astronauts to the moon. NASA's current goal is to launch a manned mission to the moon by 2025, but that goal may be adjusted due to delays in research and development.

At the hearing, Gerstenmeier and executives from Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, argued for an extension of an order banning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from enforcing safety regulations on commercial manned space missions for years.

FAA said in a statement that it had not received an invitation to the hearing. Keeping pace with developments in the aerospace industry has always been a priority and efforts are under way to increase staff, FAA said.

FAA grounded SpaceX's starship after its first test flight on April 20. At that time, the spacecraft's two-stage rockets failed to separate as planned and lost control, resulting in SpaceX having to destroy the ship. The launch damaged SpaceX's launch pad, and debris and powdered concrete were scattered on nearby land.

The hearing comes as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are working to increase the number of launches of space equipment, as well as the number of participants in space tourism and other events. U. S. aviation safety regulators and Congress are trying to figure out how to regulate this burgeoning industry.

The hearing also discussed how to simplify FAA's launch licensing procedures and provide FAA with more resources for commercial space flights.

Gerstenmeier says SpaceX still needs to overcome many technical hurdles to turn a starship into a real lunar lander. The company is eager to conduct more flight tests to get more information about the spacecraft.

"We need to test it as soon as possible, identify the problem and fix it, and then fly again," Gerstenmeier said. "We can't be held back by regulation."

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