SpaceX and the Starship program had an amazing and eventful year, with four test flights, a booster catch, the construction of Starfactory, finishing Mega Bay 2, which has started to speed up construction rates, and the introduction of Starship Block 2, an upgraded version of the orbital class starship.
Masseys
At the start of the year, Masseys was still being transformed into the testing site it is today. The Booster and Ship cryo stands were operational, but construction on the Ship static fire stand was underway. This was finished in the summer, and the first ship to static fire and test out the pad’s systems was Ship 26.
With this built, SpaceX added four more Liquid Oxygen tanks to the tank farm at Masseys. In theory this will allow SpaceX to perform cryogenic proof testing on a ship and booster while also being able to static fire a ship without refilling.
Masseys in October (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)
Masseys has become a large upgrade over the suborbital launch pads turned test stands at the Launch Site. With completing all of this testing at this site, SpaceX no longer has to close Highway 4 for Ship testing and booster cryo tests. Only the road down to Masseys needs to be closed.
Production Site and Roberts Road
Over this year, SpaceX has finished the Starfactory and built an entire office building attached to the factory. This will allow SpaceX to produce large numbers of vehicles and have their engineers and program managers on-site next to the factory. This helps keep everything centralized and provides for a more seamless operation.
This factory, in total, has over one million square feet of floor space for inventory and manufacturing of starship sections. Little is known about the makeup of the factory and where each section is made, but we do know that the front and tallest part is for nosecones, as pictures can be taken of them through the glass.
Production Site in October (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)
During the year, SpaceX also finished building Mega Bay 2, where ship construction took place, replacing the High Bay. Teams have kitted out Mega Bay 2 far more than High Bay ever was and even more than Mega Bay 1. Mega Bay 2 has three work stands for Ships, and each stand has work platforms that go all the way to the top of the ship, with smaller work platforms in between, giving workers full access to the ship without needing scaffolding.
Another addition is small, clean room cubicles at the same levels as the ship access hatches. This is another step as SpaceX tries to eliminate Foreign Object Debris during Starship construction.
High Bay spent most of this year being used to retile Ship 30 and strip tiles from Ship 31. However, in terms of constructing ships, High Bay was only used to start Block 2 ships by stacking the nose cone and payload bays. But with all but one Block 1 ship flown and SpaceX pushing for Ship 33 on Flight 7, High Bay is out of date and now relegated to scrapping old ships like Ship 26 and being used to build other things.
Ship 30 Heat Shield Rework in High Bay in June (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)
It is expected that High Bay and the Stargate building will be dismantled in favor of a sort of Gigabay so that SpaceX can increase its stacking operations. With the Starfactory starting to build sections faster and faster, stacking will become the bottleneck for making new vehicles.
Over at Roberts Road, SpaceX has finally started to clear the northern location where another Starfactory is set to be built. This is slated to have even more floor space than at Starbase and possibly have high bays attached so that no ring sections go outside until the vehicle is completed. Once completed, SpaceX will build ships and boosters at Kenndy Space Center to launch out of LC-39A and possibly SLC-37.
SpaceX’s Roberts Road facility in Florida, where a large expansion is planned. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
Launch Site
The Launch site has changed a lot over this past year. Just over at Orbital Launch Pad A, SpaceX has brought in 12 horizontal Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Nitrogen tanks and has switched the tank farm over to those tanks. Once done, teams dismantled the large vertical homemade cryo tanks SpaceX had built for the original tank farm.
This changeover keeps the capacity around the same, but the tanks are no longer exposed to the exhaust from the booster on launch. While not as space-efficient as vertical tanks, SpaceX has figured out how to build a tank farm and is doing this at LC-39A. Teams have also strengthened the chopsticks and tower due to catching operations now taking place
Launch Site in October (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)
The most significant change is that the suborbital launch site used to fly all the hops and test every ship up to Ship 30, is gone. In place of it is Orbital Launch Pad B. So far, SpaceX has constructed the tower and is currently digging the flame trench, which is a part of the new pad design. This new pad is completely redesigned from Pad A. It includes a bidirectional flame trench with a flame diverter, a redesigned Orbital Launch Mount using a water-cooled deck, and smaller chopsticks, as seen at LC-39A.
This new pad should enable SpaceX to launch far more frequently than with Pad A due to the lessons learned for pad turnaround. Pad B will not have its own dedicated tank farm but will be connected through the current one with its own set of pumps and subcoolers. To fly out of this pad, SpaceX needs to complete the Tiered Environmental Assessment to approve the changes since the old 2022 Programmable Environmental Assessment had the second pad to the south of Pad A, not to the west.
Pad B OLM In Sanchez (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)
LC-39A and SLC-37
SpaceX has also been making strides in getting more approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for more launch pads. Due to the pad and vehicle design changes since 2019, the FAA required SpaceX to complete an updated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for LC-39A. The updates include adding an air separation unit inside LC-39A for producing Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Nitrogen onsite, a new possible catch tower, updated locations for ground equipment, and updated vehicle specifications.
SpaceX also has an EIS in progress for SLC-37, which used to fly Delta IV Heavys. This would likely be a pair of pads like at Starbase, given the room SLC-37 has. This EIS and the one at LC-39A should be finished by late 2025 or early 2026. If SpaceX gets all of these environmental assessments approved, the Starship program will have authorization to fly 146 times a year with at least four to five pads
Closeup of the Starship tower and activity surrounding it at Pad 39A. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
Flight Tests
This past year, SpaceX flew a starship stack four times, each more successful than the last. First, there was Flight 3 on March 14, Ship 28, and Booster 10. This flight had an impressive start with no engines out on ascent and a propellant transfer demonstration with Ship 28 during the coast phase. Booster 10 was lost just above the Gulf of Mexico after completing its boost backburn and nearly finishing its landing burn.
Ship 28 had roll control issues during the coast phase, so the planned raptor relight demo was canceled. Due to this, the ship reentered while tumbling and then burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Booster 10 and Ship 28 in Flight (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)
Flight 4 was on June 6, composed of Ship 29 and Booster 11.1. During ascent, Booster 11 had an engine out but made it to a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico before tipping over and exploding. Ship 29 made it through the coast phase and performed the first-ever controlled reentry of Starship. It made it through reentry but nearly lost a flap in the process and, as a result, was a few kilometers off target once the flip and burn occurred.
Next came Flight 5 on Oct. 13, where SpaceX aimed to catch a booster. This flight was Ship 30 and Booster 12, and once again, the ascent was perfect, with Booster 12 being cleared for return to the launch site. After a successful boost back burn and glide back to the launch site, Booster 12 ignited its landing burn and was caught by the chopsticks at the top of the tower.
Ship 30 then went through a controlled entry with an upgraded Block 2 heat shield and landed on target in the Indian Ocean.
Booster 12 Rolling Back to Mega Bay 1 With Battle Damage (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)
Finally, Flight 6 on Nov. 19 with Ship 31 and Booster 13. SpaceX was looking to repeat the success of the last flight just a month earlier. However, after a successful ascent, Booster 13 did not go for a catch and instead splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico due to a possible issue with the tower. But, Ship 31, with a partially stripped-back heat shield, successfully reentered and landed on target in the Indian Ocean.
With these four flight tests, SpaceX learned a lot, which teams then put towards designing Block 2, a much more advanced Starship set to fly on Flight 7. Block 2 of Starship is a highly upgraded version of the ship using lessons learned the past four years. The major upgrades are extended tanks, better-designed and moved-forward flaps, enhanced structural integrity, and a massively upgraded heat shield. This ship is set to propel the Starship to new heights.
Ship 33 at Masseys (Credit: Ceaser G for NSF)
There was a lot of change for the Starship program, but with the production site in full swing, a newer, more advanced pad and Starship being built and tested, and the promise of more pads and another production facility in the works, the foundations have been laid for a year that could bring the first ever ship catch, the large-scale propellant transfer demo, the first payload deploy, and possibly the reflight of both vehicles.
Featured Image: Booster 12 about to be caught by the chopsticks (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
