Eh, only kinda. NASA have agreed to purchase Starship launch services for the Artemis program, but they aren’t funding each test individually.
Every blown up Starship is that many billions just, poof
That’s money that SpaceX have to pay though, not NASA. 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.
Eh, only kinda. NASA have agreed to purchase Starship launch services for the Artemis program, but they aren’t funding each test individually.
That’s money that SpaceX have to pay though, not NASA. 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.
And starship does not cost several billions each, maybe 1/10 that.