SpaceX simply launched a brand-new return capsule that it has been growing at nighttime.
That automobile, known as Starfall, lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket this morning (June 23), on a check mission designed to indicate that it could actually fly in a managed trend and survive the fiery journey down by Earth’s environment.
The demonstration flight might have caught some house followers without warning, for SpaceX has revealed little about Starfall to date. And that air of secrecy extended through today’s launch; the company cut off its webcast about 10 minutes after liftoff, a practice usually associated with national security missions.
SpaceX provided a very brief overview of Starfall today, saying via X that the brand new automobile “will allow reasonably priced, routine entry to the microgravity surroundings for scientific analysis and in-space manufacturing.”
Particulars concerning the automobile are more durable to come back by — however now we have some, due to an environmental assessment revealed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) final month. That report seemed on the potential environmental affect of two Starfall demonstration reentries, one or each of which was set in movement by right this moment’s launch. (It is unclear what number of Starfall autos the Falcon 9 lofted on this preliminary flight.)
Based on the FAA doc, Starfall is a disk-shaped spacecraft that stands about 2.5 ft (0.75 meters) tall, with a diameter of 10.2 ft (3.1 m). It weighs roughly 4,600 kilos (2,100 kilograms) and might carry about 2,200 kilos (1,000 kg) of payload. The automobile can launch on each the workhorse Falcon 9 and Starship, the megarocket SpaceX is growing to assist humanity settle the moon and Mars, amongst different duties.
Starfall consists of two components: an aluminum “prime plate” that weighs about 3,090 kilos (1,400 kg) and a removable carbon-fiber warmth protect. Cargo rides within the prime plate, which contains a payload bay 8.2 ft lengthy, 4.9 ft vast and 1.6 ft tall (2.5 by 1.5 by 0.5 m).
For comparability, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which routinely flies folks and cargo to and from the Worldwide Area Station, stands about 14.7 ft (4.5 m) tall, with a diameter of 13.0 ft (4.0 m). Dragon can haul about 13,230 kilos (6,000 kg) to low Earth orbit and convey 6,600 kilos (3,000 kg) again down, in response to its SpaceX specifications page.
Starfall will not be able to carrying astronauts. And, in one other departure from Dragon, the newly debuted return automobile doesn’t have a standard propulsion system.
It has solely “an perspective management system which makes use of compressed inert gasoline (for instance, compressed nitrogen gasoline) to carry out small perspective management maneuvers, akin to pointing the capsule’s warmth protect within the appropriate route to soundly reenter Earth’s environment,” the FAA’s evaluation reads.
“Capsules do not need the power to de-orbit themselves and might solely management their perspective,” it provides. “Particular person capsules would reenter Earth’s environment on a pre-planned trajectory and splash down with the help of parachutes.”
That splashdown — not less than of the primary two Starfall autos — will happen within the open Pacific Ocean, about 700 nautical miles (1,300 kilometers) off the west coast of the US. Starfall, and its cargo, will then be collected by restoration boats.
SpaceX has two principal objectives for Starfall, in response to the FAA doc. The automobile will “allow point-to-point supply of crucial cargo by house on fast timelines” and in addition “create a self-sustaining business in-space manufacturing market by providing entry to microgravity and vacuum, loiter on orbit, and protected return from orbit as a service at scale.”
SpaceX is not alone in pursuing these alternatives. For instance, the California-based firm Varda Area has already launched and landed 5 of its 650-pound (300 kg) “W-series” spacecraft, that are designed to be each orbital mini-factories and return capsules.
And one other California outfit, Outpost Area, is growing a line of “CarryAll” return autos that may get very giant payloads — these weighing as much as 22,000 kilos (10,000 kg) — down from house with pinpoint accuracy, inside 80 ft (25 m) of a goal wherever on Earth.
The CarryAll Block 3 will probably be a “flagship automobile for in-space manufacturing and warehousing, Earth return, army resilience and humanitarian assist,” Outpost’s website states.
So SpaceX will not be breaking new floor with Starfall. However the firm is poised to play a number one position within the nascent Earth-return area, due to its launch dominance and vertical integration.
The Falcon 9 flew a whopping 165 occasions in 2025, in any case, and SpaceX envisions launching Starship 1000’s of occasions per 12 months when that large rocket comes absolutely on-line. So it should not be too tough for SpaceX to ship tons of of Starfall autos up after which again down once more, delivering space-made prescription drugs and different high-value items to clients all over the world.
