According to Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program at NASA, SpaceX conducted a test on March 14 to demonstrate its ability to transfer propellant between tanks aboard Starship while in flight, SpaceNews reported Saturday.
Kshatriya told the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council on April 26 that the demonstration, which involved a planned transfer of at least 10 metric tons of liquid oxygen from a header tank within Starship’s upper stage onto its main tank, “was successful by all accounts.”
The demo, which SpaceX carried out under the terms of a NASA contract awarded in 2020, is part of a broader effort to develop technologies that would enable the refueling of Starship while in space, a capability that is crucial to future manned lunar missions using the spacecraft.
The next step in the effort will involve two Starships docking while in orbit, during which one will transfer propellant to the other. That demo is scheduled for 2025.
