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SpaceX's Starfall capsule delivers cargo for US Air Force in landmark 'point to point' space mission
Point-to-point delivery, or P2D, is a VBD according to the AFRL.
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The U.S. Air Force is opening up about the SpaceX Starfall cargo capsule it flew on a recent rideshare mission to orbit — and showing off what the capsule carried.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) completed a point-to-point rocket cargo delivery test using the secretive uncrewed reentry vehicle, confirming on social media its recovery of the package in the Pacific Ocean. "With support from SpaceX, the AFRL agile cargo pods were recovered after splashdown," the AFRL wrote in an X post on Oct. 26.
The Starfall capsule launched on a Falcon 9 rocket as a part of SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 mission, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Oct. 20. Starfall carried a number of AFRL-developed cargo pods designed to transport military equipment through space and back to Earth. The successful recovery of the pods marks a big step forward in the Air Force's effort to examine the viability of point-to-point (P2D) rocket cargo missions.
"This was a critical achievement to demonstrate the potential of Rocket Cargo delivery for point-to-point rapid global mobility for the Future Force," said AFRL Technology Transition Office director Adam Remaly in a press release on Oct. 20.
Photos included in the AFRL social media post show military personnel unpacking a recovered cargo pod for inspection. Each pod contained sensors to monitor temperature conditions through launch, reentry and splashdown, as well as to measure the shock and vibration forces exerted on its cargo.
For its first Starfall mission, AFRL packed its cargo pods with representative items like medical equipment, food ration packs and other military kit that might be helpful for surviving an emergency somewhere that's tough to reach via conventional transportation. To that end, AFRL said it also conducted a fit check of a UNI-PAC III life raft inside Starfall, which could potentially be included in future tests.
With support from SpaceX, the AFRL agile cargo pods were recovered after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Each pod contained representative mission equipment to study the effects of temperature, shock, and vibration of the cargo environments during launch and reentry.