SpaceX’s most ambitious Starship flight yet will see reused hardware, the deployment of 10 fake satellites and another attempt to catch the booster with “chopsticks”
By Matthew Sparkes
8 January 2025
The Starship rocket in December 2024 being prepared for its seventh flight
SpaceX
SpaceX’s next Starship test flight will be the most ambitious to date, and the first involving a new “block 2” version with a host of design updates.
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What is Starship?
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever to fly. SpaceX aims to develop it into a rapidly reusable vehicle that can take large payloads into orbit, land back on Earth and launch another mission within hours.
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Somewhat confusingly, Starship is the name given to both the entire spacecraft, consisting of a Super Heavy booster and the ship it launches stacked together, and ship alone once it has detached from the booster.
SpaceX has been rapidly iterating both Super Heavy and Starship, taking a Silicon Valley approach to design that sees regular tests and dramatic failures as simply part of the process. But this will be the first test of the so-called block 2 Starship upper stage.
What’s new in Starship block 2?
The company says on its website that Starship’s electronics have undergone a “complete redesign” and there are now more than 30 cameras on board. It will also have 25 per cent more propellant, stand 3.1 metres taller and have relocated front flaps.