Soon after SpaceX launched the 11th Starship test flight from Pad 1 at its Starbase site in southern Texas just over a month ago, engineers set to work dismantling the launchpad so that it can upgrade it with a more advanced design.
This week, news site NASASpaceflight shared footage of a SpaceX excavator getting on with the job, knocking down the first of four massive legs that were part of the pad’s Orbital Launch Mount (OLM), a heavy steel platform that supports and fuels the Starship at the launchpad. Look at the bottom center of the video and you’ll spot someone standing in the frame — a detail that adds striking scale to the scene.
Pad 1, Timber!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/9o1PWKsA0P
The Pad 1 demolition process will also include the removal of the “chopstick” mechanical arms that secured some of the Starship’s first-stage Super Heavy boosters when they returned to Earth soon after launch, as well as the disposal of components such as piping, wiring, and valves.
The rebuilt Pad 1 will get a new flame trench and expanded deluge tank farm to match the more robust water suppression system currently being installed at the new Pad 2 site, which is also being constructed at Starbase. It’ll also have a more robust and taller launch tower base that better protects launch-related hardware, and newly designed, stronger chopsticks for securing the incoming booster.
The aim is to standardize operations across the two launchpads to improve launch cadence and compatibility with the next Starship designs, including version 3 vehicles.
Pad 1 has served SpaceX well for its testing of the Starship, the most powerful rocket ever to fly, although the inaugural launch in April 2023 didn’t quite go according to plan.
The record-breaking 17 million pounds of thrust generated by the Super Heavy booster on its inaugural flight utterly destroyed the launchpad, which was too weak to withstand the rocket’s colossal force. The outcome compelled SpaceX to design a new, much stronger Pad 1 for subsequent flights, though that has now served its purpose.
As mentioned above, the spaceflight company is also building a more advanced launchpad — Pad 2 — in another part of the Starbase site. This will be used for the 12th test flight featuring the first launch of Starship version 3, which sports various upgrades over its predecessor.
It’s not clear when the 12th flight will take place, though the general consensus is that SpaceX will likely launch the rocket in early 2026.
Once fully operational, NASA is expected to use the Starship for crew and cargo flights to the moon and possibly Mars, though SpaceX still has a lot of testing to do before it’s ready.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.