Rocketry, Spaceflight, and Starbase | Acronyms and Glossary
There are many acronyms thrown around when discussing SpaceX, NASA, and the space industry. With all of the focus on Starbase Texas, many new people are becoming interested in spaceflight. We know these terms can get confusing so we put together a handy guide for some of the most commonly-used acronyms when talking rockets. (Remember Elon Musk's advice though before using too many acronyms!)
Space Industry & Rocketry Acronyms
301 | Cr-Ni stainless steel (X10CrNi18-8): high tensile strength, good ductility |
304L | Cr-Ni stainless steel with low carbon (X2CrNi19-11): corrosion-resistant with good stress relief properties |
30X | SpaceX-proprietary carbon steel formulation (Thirty-X) |
ACS | Attitude Control System |
ADCS | Attitude Determination and Control System |
AFSS | Automated Flight Safety System |
AIT | Assembly, Integration and Testing |
AoA | Angle of Attack |
AoE | Area of Effect |
AOS | Acquisition of Signal |
AR | Area Ratio (between rocket engine nozzle and bell) |
ASDS | Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (floating landing platform) |
ASOG | A Shortfall of Gravitas, SpaceX's 3rd Droneship (see ASDS) |
ASS | Acronyms Seriously Suck |
ATP | Acceptance Test Procedure |
ATV | Advanced Technology Vehicle (a launcher for sub-orbital experiments) |
AVI | Avionics Operator |
BEO | Beyond Earth Orbit |
BFR | Big Falcon Rocket or Big F***ing Rocket |
BN | Booster Number (for Starship/Superheavy) |
CAA | Crew Access Arm (for transfer of crew on a launchpad) |
Coefficient of Drag | |
CF | Carbon Fiber |
CFD | Computational Fluid Dynamics |
CLPS | Commercial Lunar Payload Services |
CoM | Center of Mass |
COPV | Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel |
COTS | Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (NASA contract) |
CRS | Commercial Resupply Services (NASA contract) |
DSG | Deep Space Gateway (proposed by NASA for lunar orbit) |
DSH | Deep Space Habitat |
DSN | Deep Space Network |
DUR | Delightful Unscheduled Recovery |
E2E | Earth-to-Earth (suborbital flight) |
EDL | Entry/Descent/Landing |
ELE | Extinction-Level Event |
EOI | Earth Orbital Insertion maneuver |
EOL | End Of Life |
ERP | Effective Radiated Power |
ERV | Earth Return Vehicle |
ETO | Earth-To-Orbit transport of materials |
F1 | Falcon 1 |
F9 | Falcon 9 |
FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
FFSC | Full-Flow Staged Combustion |
FFSCC | Full Flow Staged Combustion Cycle |
FMEA | Failure-Mode-and-Effects Analysis |
FOD | Foreign Object Damage (debris) |
FONSI | Findings of No Significant Environmental Impact |
FoS | Factor of Safety for design of high-stress components (see COPV) |
FRR | Flight Readiness Review |
FRSC | Fuel-Rich Staged Combustion |
FSW | Friction-Stir Welding |
FTS | Flight Termination System |
FTV | Flight Test Vehicle |
GAO | Government Accountability Office |
GEO | Geostationary Earth Orbit (35786km) |
GNC | Guidance/Navigation/Control |
GSE | Ground Support Equipment |
GTE | Ground Test Equipment (as opposed to GSE, which supports actual launches) |
GTO | Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit |
HEEO | Highly Elliptical Earth Orbit |
HEMO | Highly Elliptical Mars Orbit |
HEO | High Earth Orbit (above 35780km), or Highly Elliptical Orbit |
HIF | Horizontal Integration Facility |
HLS | Human Landing System (Artemis) |
HLV | Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (20-50 tons to LEO) |
HPFTP | High Pressure Fuel Turbopump |
HPOTP | High Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump |
HPTP | High Pressure Turbopump |
HTS | Horizontal Test Stand |
HUD | Heads-Up Display (often implemented as a projection) |
ICT | Interplanetary Colonial Transport (see ITS) |
IFA | In-Flight Abort test |
ILC | Initial Launch Capability |
IM | Initial Mass (deliverable to a given orbit, without accounting for fuel) |
IRT | Independent Review Team |
ISAP | In-Situ Air Production |
ISEP | In-Situ Electricity/Energy Production |
ISFP | In-Situ Food Production |
ISL | Inter-Satellite Link (communication between satellites in orbit) |
Isp | Specific impulse (basically the fuel economy of a rocket) |
ISPP | In-Situ Propellant Production |
ISRU | In-Situ Resource Utilization |
ISWP | In-Situ Water Production |
ITAR | International Traffic in Arms Regulations (US-only) |
ITN | Interplanetary Transport Network |
ITS | Interplanetary Transport System (see MCT) |
JRTI | Just Read The Instructions, SpaceX's 1st landing barge (see ASDS) |
KSC | Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
KSP | Kerbal Space Program |
LAS | Launch Abort System |
LC-13 | Launch Complex 13, Canaveral (SpaceX Landing Zone 1) |
LC-39A | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy (SpaceX F9/Heavy) |
LCC | Launch Control Center |
LCH4 | Liquid Methane |
LDRO | Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit |
LEO | Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km) |
LES | Launch Escape System |
LH2 | Liquid Hydrogen |
LLO | Low Lunar Orbit (below 100km) |
LMO | Low Mars Orbit |
LMP | Lunar Module Pilot (for Apollo missions) |
LN2 | Liquid Nitrogen |
LNG | Liquefied Natural Gas |
LOS | Loss of Signal | Line of Sight |
LOV | Loss Of Vehicle |
LOX | Liquid Oxygen |
LPFTP | Low Pressure Fuel Turbopump |
LPG | Liquified Petroleum Gas |
LRR | Launch Readiness Review |
LSA | Launch Services Agreement |
LSP | Launch Service Provider |
LV | Launch Vehicle (aka "Rocket") |
LZ | Landing Zone |
LZ-1 | Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral (see LC-13) |
LZ-2 | Landing Zone 2, Vandenberg (see SLC-4W) |
M1d | Merlin 1 Kerolox rocket engine, revision D (2013), 620-690kN, uprated to 730 then 845kN |
M1dVac | Merlin 1 Kerolox rocket engine, revision D (2013), vacuum optimized, 934kN |
MaxQ | Maximum aerodynamic pressure |
MCC | Mission Control Center |
MCF | Main Component Failure |
MCT | Mars Colonial Transporter (see ITS) |
MECO | Main Engine Cut-Off |
MEO | Medium Earth Orbit (2000-35780km) |
MES | Main Engine Start |
MET | Mission Elapsed Time |
MLP | Mobile Launcher Platform |
MLV | Medium Lift Launch Vehicle (2-20 tons to LEO) |
MMH | Mono-Methyl Hydrazine, (CH3)HN-NH2 (part of NTO/MMH hypergolic mix) |
MOI | Mars Orbital Insertion maneuver |
MZ | Nickname for Yusaku Maezawa (first confirmed passenger for Starship) |
NEO | Near-Earth Object |
NET | No Earlier Than |
NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
NORAD | North American Aerospace Defense command |
NOTAM | Notice to Airmen (of flight hazards) |
NSF | NasaSpaceFlight (forum) |
NSSL | National Security Space Launch |
NTO | diNitrogen TetrOxide, N2O4 (part of NTO/MMH hypergolic mix) |
OCISLY | Of Course I Still Love You, SpaceX's 2nd Droneship (see ASDS) |
OFT | Orbital Flight Test |
OLIT | Orbital Launch Integration Tower |
OMS | Orbital Maneuvering System |
ORSC | Oxidizer-Rich Staged Combustion |
OSM | Operations Safety Manager |
OTV | Orbital Test Vehicle |
PDR | Preliminary Design Review |
PDV | Powered Descent Vehicle (for retro-propulsive landing) |
PGO | Probability of Go |
PICA-X | Phenolic Impregnated-Carbon Ablative (heatshield compound, as modified by SpaceX) |
PLF | Payload Fairing |
PMD | Propellant Management Device |
PMF | Propellant Mass Fraction |
PPE | Power and Propulsion Element |
QA | Quality Assurance/Assessment |
QD | Quick-Disconnect |
RCS | Reaction Control System |
RFP | Request for Proposal |
RLV | Reusable Launch Vehicle |
Roomba | Remotely-Operated Orientation and Mass Balance Adjuster (used to clamp down a stage on the ASDS) |
RTF | Return to Flight |
RTLS | Return to Launch Site |
RUD | Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly |
RUS | Raptor-powered Upper Stage, and/or ground equipment to support same |
SECO | Second-stage Engine Cut-Off |
SF | Static fire |
SHLV | Super-Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (over 50 tons to LEO) |
SLC-37 | Space Launch Complex 37, Canaveral (ULA Delta IV) |
SLC-40 | Space Launch Complex 40, Canaveral (SpaceX F9) |
SLC-41 | Space Launch Complex 41, Canaveral (ULA Atlas V) |
SLC-4E | Space Launch Complex 4-East, Vandenberg (SpaceX F9) |
SLC-4W | Space Launch Complex 4-West, Vandenberg (SpaceX F9, landing) |
SLS | Space Launch System (orange rocket) |
SN | Serial Number (used for Raptor and Starship) |
SOP | Standard Operating Procedure |
SPoF | Single Point of Failure |
SRB | Solid Rocket Booster |
SRP | Supersonic Retro-Propulsion |
SSH | Starship + SuperHeavy (see BFR) |
SSO | Sun-Synchronous Orbit |
SSP | Space-based Solar Power |
SSTO | Single Stage to Orbit |
STA | Special Temporary Authorization (issued by FCC for up to 6 months) |
STLS | South Texas Launch Site, Boca Chica |
T/E | Transporter/Erector launch pad support equipment |
TCM | Trajectory Correction Maneuver |
TE | Transporter/Erector launch pad support equipment |
TEA-TEB | Triethylaluminium-Triethylborane, igniter for Merlin engines; spontaneously burns with a green flame |
TEI | Trans-Earth Injection maneuver |
TEL | Transporter/Erector/Launcher, ground support equipment (see TE) |
TFR | Temporary Flight Restriction |
TLI | Trans-Lunar Injection maneuver |
TMI | Trans-Mars Injection maneuver |
TPA | TurboPump Assembly, feeds fuel to a rocket engine |
TPS | Thermal Protection System |
TRL | Technology Readiness Level |
TS | Thrust Simulator |
TVC | Thrust Vector Control |
TWR | Thrust-to-Weight Ratio |
UDMH | Unsymmetrical DiMethylHydrazine (liquid hypergolic propellent) |
ULA | United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture) |
USAF | United States Air Force |
VAB | Vehicle Assembly Building |
VAFB | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California |
VIF | Vertical Integration Facility |
VLEO | Very Low Earth Orbit |
VTOL | Vertical Take-Off and Landing |
VTS | Vertical Test Stand |
WDR | Wet Dress Rehearsal (with fuel onboard) |
If you see any acronyms we're missing, please let us know at hello@starbasebrewery.com!