Not really. SpaceX are paying for these tests. While NASA have agreed to purchase Starship launch services for the Artemis program, they aren’t funding each test individually. The Starship contract for Artemis is fixed-price, not cost-plus. Whether SpaceX blow up one Starship or ten during the testing phase, NASA pay the same amount for the operational flights.
I assumed the comment was satirising one common form of misguided critique of SpaceX’s “hardware-rich” approach to this development programme. But yes, now I’m not so sure.
Not really. SpaceX are paying for these tests. While NASA have agreed to purchase Starship launch services for the Artemis program, they aren’t funding each test individually. The Starship contract for Artemis is fixed-price, not cost-plus. Whether SpaceX blow up one Starship or ten during the testing phase, NASA pay the same amount for the operational flights.
Indeed.
I assumed the comment was satirising one common form of misguided critique of SpaceX’s “hardware-rich” approach to this development programme. But yes, now I’m not so sure.