SpaceX Super Heavy rocket gets supersonic wind tunnel test for NASA's Artemis moon missions (photos)

A chrome model of a rocket booster is suspended in air with a conical rod, inside a concrete room.

A model of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy rocket has passed NASA wind tunnel testing, marking another milestone in its development as part of plans to launch future Artemis missions to the moon.

NASA tested a 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket in the transonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at the space agency's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. The model was subjected to high-speed forced air, simulating the air resistance and flow the booster will experience during different stages of flight, according to a statement from NASA. 

Pressure-measuring sensors were affixed to the rocket model, allowing researchers to observe its stability and aerodynamic performance as it endured wind speeds ranging from Mach .7, or about 537 miles per hour, to Mach 1.4, or about 1,074 miles per hour. For reference, Mach 1 is the speed that sound waves travel, or 761 miles per hour, at sea level.

Super Heavy is equipped with four grid fins, which help stabilize and control the vehicle during re-entry. Several grid fin configurations were tested under varying aerodynamic conditions within the wind tunnel simulations, which took place over a two week time period earlier in the year. 

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Four grid fins on the Super Heavy rocket help stabilize and control the rocket as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere after launching Starship to a lunar trajectory. Engineers tested the effects of various aerodynamic conditions on several grid fin configurations during wind tunnel testing. (Image credit: NASA)

The data collected during the tests will be used to update flight software for test flights of Super Heavy and Starship and to refine the exterior design of future versions of the booster, NASA officials said. 

Super Heavy is the first stage, or booster, of theStarship launch system and is designed by SpaceX to be fully reusable, meaning that after it separates from Starship in space, it is expected to return to Earth intact. Studying the model's stability in the wind tunnel tests is important to the spacecraft's successful re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, according to the statement. 

Wind tunnel testing at NASA's Ames Research Center helped engineers better understand the aerodynamic forces the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket, with its 33 Raptor engines, experiences during various stages of flight. As a result of the testing, engineers updated flight control algorithms and modified the exterior design of the rocket.  (Image credit: NASA)

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For Artemis missions, which aim to land humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program, Starship will be used to carry astronauts to and from the Lunar Gateway and the moon's surface. 

"With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet," NASA officials said in the statement.