--- title: "NASA Awards SpaceX $53 Million for Orbital Starship Refueling Test" description: "NASA has awarded SpaceX with a $53 million contract to perform a propellant transfer demonstration using its massive Starship spacecraft." date: "2020-10-15" modified: "2020-10-15" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-pay-spacex-orbital-starship-refueling-test" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # NASA Awards SpaceX $53 Million for Orbital Starship Refueling Test ![]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Refueling in Orbit NASA [has awarded]() SpaceX with a $53 million contract to perform a propellant transfer demonstration using its massive Starship spacecraft. Refueling in orbit is a crucial step for SpaceX to allow its Starship spacecraft to make the journey to faraway places, including the Moon and Mars. The idea is to launch multiple Starships, some destined to top up others while in orbit. "Combining Starship’s rapid reusability with orbital refilling is critical to economically transporting large numbers of crew and cargo to the Moon and Mars," SpaceX wrote [in a tweet]() celebrating the news. ## Mission Critical NASA is contracting SpaceX to demonstrate the transfer of ten metric tons of liquid oxygen propellant between one Starship and another, a collaboration with NASA’s Glenn Research Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center. The news comes after [NASA awarded $3 million]() to SpaceX last year to work with Marshall to build and test "cryogenic fluid couplers," special nozzles designed to allow refueling in orbit. ## Starship Variant SpaceX has also been selected by NASA to [develop a Starship variant]() to send crews to the surface of the Moon as soon as 2024. NASA's high profile support of SpaceX could end up alienating stakeholders in the agency's other major ventures, including the Orion capsule and the Space Launch System, as *Ars Technica*'s Eric Berger [points out](), giving the agency far more affordable options to carry cargo and passengers to faraway destinations. **READ MORE:** [SpaceX’s Starship wins $53M from NASA for full-scale orbital refueling test]() \[*Teslarati*\] **More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk Shows Off Underside of Gigantic New Starship Prototype]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()