SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that future Starships – or at least certain Starship variants – are being upgraded with 50% more Raptor engines and stretched propellant tanks. On December 17th, the CEO revealed the plans, confirming a tweet published three months prior stating that Starship was “begging for an extra 3 engines.” Musk was…
For the third time in four months, SpaceX has rolled the first potentially flightworthy Super Heavy booster towards Starbase’s orbital launch mount. Combined with a large crane – fitted with a jig solely used to lift boosters – moving to a spot just beside the booster, it’s clear that SpaceX is preparing to reinstall Super…
CEO Elon Musk says he may finally present the first cohesive update on SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket development program in more than two years. While Musk routinely makes Starship-focused appearances and comments in public or by webcast every 3-6 months, there is a certain brand of update – along the lines of a high-profile tech…
As of late November, SpaceX has begun stacking two Starship prototypes simultaneously for the first time in ten months. Known as Starship S21 and S22, SpaceX began stacking the latter prototype inside Starbase’s ‘midbay’ in mid-October – the first Starship assembly work seen in more than two and a half months. For about half a…
SpaceX appears to have begun tying up a number of loose ends at Starship’s first orbital launch site, potentially setting the stage for major rocket testing CEO Elon Musk has stated could begin next month. The list of tasks started or completed in just the last week or two is significant and each one is…
For the first time, SpaceX has teamed up with researchers from NASA and several other US institutions to publicly discuss how it plans to use Starship to build Mars Base Alpha. Save for a handful of comments spread around the periphery of SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk’s main focus, Starship itself, the company and its…
CEO Elon Musk has provided a small update on SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket in a brief statement to and Q&A with the board of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. While it’s now been more than two years since Musk last gave a proper presentation on the Starship program, a number of…
Over the weekend, SpaceX has installed the last of its first orbital-class Starship’s six Raptor engines, setting the prototype up for one or several record-breaking tests later this week. Tentatively scheduled as early as 10am to 6pm CDT on Monday, November 1st, the next test up on Starship 20’s (S20) docket will likely be its third static…
For the second time, SpaceX is gearing up to install a full six Raptor engines on the first orbital-class Starship prototype. This time around, though, there’s reason to believe that the preparations SpaceX is making aren’t a false start and could culminate in one or several record-breaking Starship static fires as early as next week.…
After weeks of exceptionally cautious buildup, SpaceX’s first orbital-class Starship prototype has repeatedly broken new ground tests in the first few hours of its first static fire test window. SpaceX first installed Starship S20 on one of two suborbital launch and test stands more than two months ago. After almost six weeks of largely invisible…