SpaceX Starship

Starting with a 2012 announcement of plans to develop a rocket with substantially greater capabilities than SpaceX's existing Falcon 9, the company created a succession of preliminary designs for such a vehicle under various names (Mars Colonial Transporter, Interplanetary Transport System, BFR). Some were substantially different from the current design; the largest one, the Interplanetary Transport System or ITS, massed 10,500 t (23,100,000 lb) fully fueled, had a liftoff thrust of 128 meganewtons (29,000,000 lbf) and could carry 300 tonnes (660,000 lb) to low Earth orbit while being completely reused. By comparison, the Saturn V had a liftoff thrust of 36 MN (8,000,000 lbf).[3][4] It also was made of carbon composite.[3][5] Despite this, they all shared some common features such as being fully reusable and being very large. This lead to a 2019 adoption of a stainless-steel body design, which is also when the name changed to Starship.

The two major parts were renamed to Starship (second stage) and Super Heavy (booster stage).[6] In 2019, SpaceX began to refer to the Starship / Super Heavy combination as the Starship system.[7][8][9][10] In September 2019, Musk further detailed the lower-stage booster, the upper-stage's method of controlling its descent, the heat shield, orbital refueling capacity, and potential destinations besides Mars.[11] The aft flaps on the spacecraft were reduced from three to two.

Starship's structural material was changed from carbon composites to stainless steel.[12] Musk cited the low cost and ease of manufacture, increased strength of stainless steel at cryogenic temperatures, as well as its ability to withstand high heat, as the reasons for the design change.[13][12] The high temperature at which 300-series steel transitions to plastic deformation would eliminate the need for a heat shield on Starship's space-facing side, while the much hotter Earth-facing side would be cooled by allowing fuel or water to bleed through micropores in a double-wall stainless steel skin, removing heat by evaporation. However, in July 2019 Musk indicated on Twitter that this would probably not be pursued, but that thin reusable heat shield tiles which work in a similar way to those of the Space Shuttle would be used. The high melting point of Starship’s stainless steel would mean that the tiles could be lighter and thinner.[14]

In 2019, the design reverted to six Raptor engines, with three optimized for sea-level and three optimized for vacuum. Initial Super Heavy test flights would use fewer engines, perhaps about 20.

Later in 2019 Musk stated that Starship was expected to have an empty mass of 120,000 kg (260,000 lb) and be able to initially transport a payload of 100,000 kg (220,000 lb), growing to 150,000 kg (330,000 lb) over time. Musk hinted at an expendable variant that could place 250 tonnes into low orbit.[15]

The Raptor design was refined with higher thrust versions. The initial 37 engines were reduced to 31 in 2020. Musk stated that SpaceX would complete hundreds of cargo flights before carrying human passengers.[16] In April 2021, SpaceX publicly forecast that Earth to Earth passenger flights would be common within five years.[17]

Starhopper under construction, March 2019

A crane lifting Starship SN5, August 2020

SpaceX was already constructing the first full-size Starship Mk1 and Mk2 upper-stage prototypes, at the SpaceX facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, and Cocoa, Florida, respectively.[11] Neither prototype flew: Mk1 was destroyed in November 2019 during a pressure stress test and Mk2's Florida facility was abandoned and deconstructed throughout 2020.[18][19] After the Mk prototypes, SpaceX began naming its new Starship upper-stage prototypes with the prefix "SN", short for "serial number".[20] No prototypes between SN1 and SN4 flew either—SN1 and SN3 collapsed during pressure stress tests, and SN4 exploded after its fifth engine firing.[21]

In June 2020, SpaceX started constructing a launch pad for orbit-capable Starship rockets.[22] The first flight-capable Starship, SN5, was cylindrical as it had no flaps or nose cone: just one Raptor engine, fuel tanks, and a mass simulator. On 5 August 2020, SN5 performed a 150 m (500 ft) high flight and successfully landed on a nearby pad.[23] On 3 September 2020, the similar-looking Starship SN6 repeated the hop;[24] later that month, the Raptor Vacuum engine was fired in full duration at McGregor, Texas.[25]

Starship SN8 was the first fully complete Starship upper-stage prototype. It underwent four preliminary static fire tests between October and November 2020.[21] On 9 December 2020, SN8 flew, slowly turning off its three engines one by one, and reached an altitude of 12.5 km (7.8 mi). After SN8 dove back to the ground, its engines were hampered by low methane header tank pressure during the landing attempt, which led to a hard impact with the landing pad.[26] Because SpaceX had violated its launch license and ignored warnings of worsening shock wave damage, the Federal Aviation Administration investigated the incident for two months.[27]

On 2 February 2021, Starship SN9 launched to 10 km (6.2 mi) in a flight path similar to SN8. The prototype crashed upon landing because one engine did not ignite properly.[28] A month later, on 3 March, Starship SN10 launched on the same flight path as SN9. The vehicle landed hard and crushed its landing legs, leaning to one side.[29] A fire was seen at the vehicle's base. It exploded less than ten minutes later,[30] probably due to a propellant tank rupture.[29] On 30 March, Starship SN11 flew into thick fog along the same flight path.[31] The vehicle exploded during descent,[31] possibly due to excess propellant in a Raptor's methane turbopump.[32]

In March 2021, the company disclosed a public construction plan for two sub-orbital launch pads, two orbital launch pads, two landing pads, two test stands, and a large propellant tank farm. The company soon proposed developing the surrounding Boca Chica Village, Texas into a company town named Starbase.[33] Locals raised concerns about SpaceX's authority, power, and a potential threat for eviction through eminent domain.[34] In early April, the orbital launch pad's fuel storage tanks began mounting.[22] Starship prototypes SN12, SN13, and SN14 were scrapped before completion; SN15 was selected to fly instead.[35] SN15 had better avionics, structure, and upgraded engines.[30] On 5 May 2021, SN15 launched, completed the same maneuvers as older prototypes, and landed safely.[35] Even though SN15, like SN10, had a small fire in the engine area after landing, it was extinguished, completing the first successful high-altitude test.[30] According to a later report by SpaceX, SN15 experienced several issues while landing, including the loss of tank pressure and an engine.[36]^: 2

From left to right: Booster 4, Ship 15, Ship 22, and Ship 20 displayed at Starbase, June 2022

In July 2021, Super Heavy BN3 conducted its first full-duration static firing and lit three engines.[37] Around this time, SpaceX changed their naming scheme from "SN" to "Ship" for Starship crafts,[38] and from "BN" to "Booster" for Super Heavy boosters.[39] A month later, using cranes, Ship 20 was stacked atop Booster 4 to form the full launch vehicle for the first time; Ship 20 was also the first craft to have a body-tall heat shield.[40] In October 2021, the catching mechanical arms, also known as "chopsticks", were installed onto the integration tower and the first tank farm's construction was completed.[22] Two weeks later, NASA and SpaceX announced plans to construct Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 49.[41]

The public spotted the Raptor 2 engine at the start of 2022. Raptor 2 has a simpler design, less mass, wider throat, and an increase in central combustion chamber pressure from 250 bar (3,600 psi) to 300 bar (4,400 psi). These changes yielded an increase in thrust from 1.85 MN (420,000 lbf) to 2.3 MN (520,000 lbf), but a decrease of 3 seconds (~0.9%) of specific impulse.[42] In February 2022, after stacking Ship 20 on top of Booster 4 using mechanical arms, Elon Musk gave a presentation on Starship, Raptor engine and Florida spaceport development at Starbase.[43]

In June 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration determined that Starbase did not need a full environmental impact assessment but that SpaceX must address issues identified in the preliminary environmental assessment.[44] In July, Booster 7 tested spinning the liquid oxygen turbopumps on all thirty-three Raptor engines, resulting in an explosion at the vehicle's base, which destroyed a pressure pipe and causing minor damage to the launchpad.[45] By the end of November, Ship 24 had performed 2- and full 6-engine static test fires,[46]^: 20 while Booster 7 had performed static fires with 1, 3, 7, 14, 11 engines[47][46]^: 20 and finally on 9 February 2023 a static fire with 31 engines at 50% throttle (33 was attempted but one engine was disabled pre-firing, and another engine aborted). In January 2023, Starship underwent a full wet dress rehearsal at Starbase, where it was filled with more than 4,500 t (10,000,000 lb) of propellant.[48]

Starship during the first orbital flight attempt.

After a canceled launch attempt on 17 April 2023, due to a frozen valve,[49] Booster 7 and Ship 24 lifted off on 20 April at 13:33 UTC in the first orbital flight test.[50] Three engines were disabled during the launch sequence and several more failed during the flight.[51] The spacecraft also lost thrust vectoring control of the Raptor engines later in the flight, which led to the rocket starting an out of control tumbling motion.[51] The vehicle reached a maximum altitude of 24 mi (39 km).[52]

At around 3 minutes following liftoff, the rocket received a command to activate the automated flight termination system. However, the flight termination system failed to destroy the vehicle, the vehicle tumbled for another 40 seconds, and finally exploded.[53][54][55] Had the launch proceeded as planned, the spacecraft would have continued to fly with its ground track passing through the Straits of Florida and eastward around the globe, with a hard splashdown in the Pacific Ocean around 100 km (60 mi) northwest of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, having made nearly one full revolution around the Earth.[56][57]^: 2–4

After the first test flight significant work was done on the launch mount to repair the damage it sustained during the test and to prevent future issues. The foundation of the launch tower was reinforced and a steel water deluge flame deflector was built under the launch mount.[58] Ship 25 was rolled to the suborbital launch site in May and underwent spin prime and static fire testing ahead of flight. Once that was completed, Booster 9 was rolled to the launch site to undergo cryogenic proof testing, spin primes and static fires of its set of engines. As of September 7th, Ship 25 is stacked onboard Booster 9 on the launch mount.[59]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversaw the investigation of Starship's first flight failure, at the end of which SpaceX reported it had identified 63 needed corrective actions before another Starship launch license could take place.[60][61][62] On September 8, 2023, the FAA concurred with SpaceX's report and closed the investigation.[61] The FAA also announced that the full investigatory report would not be released due to confidential contents including export control information.[60] FAA officials stated, "The closure of the mishap investigation does not signal an immediate resumption of Starship launches at Boca Chica."[63] A launch license approval from the FAA could come as early as October.[64][65] The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has yet to start a formal review of SpaceX's modifications, and depending on the situation, the next launch may not occur until 2024.[66][67] The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received the final biological assessment from the Federal Aviation Administration. William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, called for the FAA to increase licensing staff.[68][69] On October 19, the FWS surveyed the area around Starbase and the consultation with the FAA has been extended into November.[70][71]

Sea level–optimized Raptor engine, May 2020

Raptor is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX exclusively for use in Starship and Super Heavy vehicles. It burns liquid oxygen and methane in a highly efficient but complex full-flow staged combustion power cycle. The Raptor engine uses methane as the fuel of choice over other rocket propellants because it produces less soot[96] and can be directly synthesized from carbon dioxide and water, using the Sabatier reaction.[97] Unlike previous reusable rocket engines such as the RS-25, the engines are designed to be reused many times with little maintenance.[98]

The engine structure itself is mostly aluminum, copper, and steel; oxidizer-side turbopumps and manifolds subject to corrosive oxygen-rich flames are made of an Inconel-like SX500 superalloy.[42] Raptor's main combustion chamber can contain 300 bar (4,400 psi) of pressure, the highest of all rocket engines.[96] Certain components are 3D printed. The Raptor's gimbaling range is 15°, higher than the RS-25's 12.5° and the Merlin's 5°. In mass production, SpaceX aims to produce each engine at a unit cost of US$250,000.[42]

Raptor operates with an oxygen-to-methane mixture ratio of about 3.6:1, lower than the stoichiometric mixture ratio of 4:1 necessary to burn all propellants completely. Operation at the stoichiometric ratio provides better performance in theory but usually results in overheating and destruction of the engine.[84] The propellants leave the pre-burners. They are injected into the main combustion chamber as hot gases instead of liquid droplets, enabling much higher power density as propellants mix rapidly via diffusion.[96] The methane and oxygen are at such high temperatures and pressures that they ignite on contact, eliminating the need for igniters in the main combustion chamber.[42]

At sea level, the standard Raptor engine produces 2.3 MN (520,000 lbf) at a specific impulse of 327 seconds, increasing to 350 seconds in a vacuum.[42] Raptor Vacuum, used on the Starship upper stage, is modified with a regeneratively cooled nozzle extension made of brazed steel tubes, increasing its expansion ratio to about 90 and its specific impulse in vacuum to 380 seconds.[84] Another engine variant, Raptor Boost, is exclusive to the Super Heavy booster; the engine variant lacks thrust vectoring and has limited throttle capability in exchange for increased thrust.[99][42]

Underside of the Super Heavy booster prior to engine installation

The first-stage booster, named Super Heavy is 71 m (233 ft) tall and 9 m (30 ft) wide,[86] and contains thirty-three Raptor engines arranged in concentric rings.[100] The outermost ring of 20 engines are of the "Raptor Boost" configuration with gimbal actuators removed to save weight and a modified injector with reduced throttle performance in exchange for greater thrust.[99] At full power, all engines produce a collective 75.9 MN (17,100,000 lb_f) of thrust.[101]

The booster's tanks can hold 3,600 t (7,900,000 lb) of propellant, consisting of 2,800 t (6,200,000 lb) of liquid oxygen and 800 t (1,800,000 lb) of liquid methane.[lower-alpha 4][102] However, current designs can only hold 3,400 t (7,500,000 lb) of propellant. The final design will have a dry mass between 160 t (350,000 lb) and 200 t (440,000 lb), with the tanks weighing 80 t (180,000 lb) and the interstage 20 t (44,000 lb).[84]

The booster is equipped with four electrically actuated grid fins, each with a mass of 3 t (6,600 lb). Adjacent pairs of grid fins are only spaced sixty degrees apart instead of being orthogonal (as is the case on Falcon 9) to provide more authority in the pitch axis. Also, unlike Falcon 9, the grid fins do not retract and remain extended during ascent.[84] The booster can be lifted through protruding hardpoints located between gridfins.[22] Above the grid fins is the vented interstage, which enables starship to use hot staging, which is when the second stage separates when some of the first stages engine are still firing. According to Elon Musk, this process may provide up to 10% increase in payload to orbit. During unpowered flight in the vacuum of space, control authority is provided by cold gas thrusters fed with residual ullage gas.

The Starship spacecraft is 50 m (160 ft) tall, 9 m (30 ft) in diameter, and has 6 Raptor engines, 3 of which are optimized for use in outer space.[103][104] Future vehicles may have an additional 3 Raptor Vacuum engines for increased payload capacity. The vehicle's payload bay, measuring 17 m (56 ft) tall by 8 m (26 ft) in diameter, is the largest of any active or planned launch vehicle; its internal volume of 1,000 m³ (35,000 cu ft) is slightly larger than the ISS's pressurized volume.[105] SpaceX will also provide a 22 m (72 ft) tall payload bay configuration for even larger payloads.[106]Starship has a total propellant capacity of 1,200 t (2,600,000 lb)[107] across its main tanks and header tanks.[108] The header tanks are better insulated due to their position and are reserved for use to flip and land the spacecraft following reentry.[109] A set of reaction control thrusters, which use the pressure in the fuel tank, control attitude while in space.[110]

The spacecraft has four body flaps to control the spacecraft's orientation and help dissipate energy during atmospheric entry,[111] composed of two forward flaps and two aft flaps. According to SpaceX, the flaps replace the need for wings or tailplane, reduce the fuel needed for landing, and allow landing at destinations in the Solar System where runways don't exist (for example, Mars).[112]^: 1 Under the forward flaps, hardpoints are used for lifting and catching the spacecraft via mechanical arms.[113] The flap's hinges are sealed in aero-covers because they would be easily damaged during reentry.[114]

Starship's heat shield, composed of thousands[115] of hexagonal black tiles that can withstand temperatures of 1,400 °C (2,600 °F),[116][117] is designed to be used many times without maintenance between flights.[118] The tiles are made of silica[119] and are attached with pins rather than glued,[117] with small gaps in between to allow for heat expansion.[114] Their hexagonal shape facilitate mass production[114] and prevent hot plasma from causing severe damage to the vehicle.

Diagram of Starship's internal structure. Not shown in this diagram are the flaps: the aft flaps are placed at the bottom (or left in this orientation), and the forward flaps are placed at the top (here, right) portion of the spaceship.

For satellite launch, Starship will have a large cargo door that will open to release payloads and close upon reentry instead of a more conventional jettisonable nose-cone fairing. Instead of a cleanroom, payloads are integrated directly into Starship's payload bay, which requires purging the payload bay with temperature-controlled ISO class 8 clean air.[106] To deploy Starlink satellites, the cargo door will be replaced with a slot and dispenser rack, whose mechanism has been compared to a Pez candy dispenser.[120]

Crewed Starship vehicles would replace the cargo bay with a pressurized crew section and have a life support system. For long-duration missions, such as crewed flights to Mars, SpaceX describes the interior as potentially including "private cabins, large communal areas, centralized storage, solar storm shelters, and a viewing gallery."[121] Starship's life support system is expected to recycle resources such as air and water from waste.[122]

Starship Human Landing System (HLS) is a crewed lunar lander variant of the Starship vehicle that is extensively modified for landing, operation, and takeoff from the lunar surface. It features modified landing legs, a body-mounted solar array, a set of thrusters mounted mid-body to assist with final landing and takeoff, two airlocks, and an elevator to lower crew and cargo onto the lunar surface. Starship HLS will be able to land more than 100 t (220,000 lb) of payload on the Moon per flight.[123]

Starship will be able to be refueled by docking with separately launched Starship propellant tanker spacecraft in orbit. Doing so would increase the spacecraft's mass capacity and allow it to reach higher-energy targets,[lower-alpha 5] such as geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and Mars.[124] A Starship propellant depot could cache methane and oxygen on-orbit, and will be used by Starship HLS to replenish its fuel tanks.[125]

Starship also plans to launch the second generation of SpaceX's Starlink satellites, which deliver global high-speed internet.[135] A space analyst at financial services company Morgan Stanley stated development of Starship and Starlink are intertwined, with Starship launch capacity enabling cheaper Starlink launches, and Starlink's profits financing Starship's development costs.[136]

As of 19 August 2022, the Superbird-9 communication satellite is Starship's first and only known contract for externally made commercial satellites. The satellite weighs 3 t (6,600 lb) dry mass, planned for 2024 launch to a geostationary orbit.[137] In the future, the spacecraft's crewed version could be used for space tourism—for example, the DearMoon project funded by Yusaku Maezawa.[138] Another example is the third flight of the Polaris program announced by Jared Isaacman.[139]

Farther in the future, Starship may host point-to-point flights (called "Earth to Earth" flights by SpaceX), traveling anywhere on Earth in under an hour.[140] SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said point-to-point travel could become cost competitive with conventional business class flights.[141] John Logsdon, an academic on space policy and history, said point-to-point travel is unrealistic, as the craft would switch between weightlessness to 5 g of acceleration.[142] In January 2022, SpaceX was awarded a $102 million five-year contract to develop the Rocket Cargo program for the United States Space Force.[78]

Starship's lunar lander Starship HLS has been chosen by NASA as the sole lunar lander for the Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 crewed missions, as part of the Artemis program.[143][144] The lander is accompanied by Starship tankers and propellant depots. The tankers transfer fuel to a depot until it is full, then the depot fuels Starship HLS. The lunar lander is thus endowed with enough thrust to achieve a lunar orbit. Then, the crews on board the Orion spacecraft are launched with the Space Launch System. Orion then docks with Starship HLS, and the crews transfer into the lander. After landing and returning, the lunar crews transfer back to Orion and return to Earth.[145]^: 4, 5

Artemis 3 launch profile of a human landing on the Moon, involving Starship HLS, Starship tanker variants, and Orion spacecraft

Astronomers have called to consider Starship's larger mass to orbit and wider cargo bay for proposed space telescopes such as LUVOIR, and to develop larger telescopes to take advantage of these capabilities.[146][147] Starship's 9 meters fairing width could hold an 8 meters-wide large space telescope mirror in a single piece,[146] alleviating the need for complex origami deployments such as that of the JWST's 6.5m mirror which added cost and delays.[147]

The low launch cost could also allow probes to use heavier, more common, cheaper materials, for instance glass instead of beryllium for large telescope mirrors.[147][134] For instance at 5 tons, the JWST would have been only 10% of the mass deliverable by a Starship to the Sun-Earth L2 point, and therefore not a dominant design consideration.[147]

A refueled Starship could launch 100 ton observatories to the Moon, L2 Lagrange point and anywhere else in the solar system.[147] Starship might also launch probes orbiting Neptune or Io, or large sample-return missions.[128] Astrophysicists have noted Starship could deploy multiple antennae up to 30 meters in length, opening up radio astronomy to frequencies below 30MHz and wavelengths greater than 10m.[147] This would give the ability to study the Universe's dark ages, unfeasible on Earth due to the atmosphere and human radio background.[147]

Opinions differ on how Starship's low launch cost will affect the cost of space science. According to Waleed Abdalati, former NASA Chief Scientist, the low launch cost will cheapen satellite replacement and enable more ambitious missions for budget-limited programs.[148] According to Lionnet, low launch cost might not reduce the overall cost of a science mission significantly: of the Rosetta space probe and Philae lander's mission cost of $1.7 billion, the cost of launch (by the expendable Ariane 5) only made up ten percent.[148]

Starship is intended to be able to land crews on Mars.[149]^: 120 The spacecraft is launched to low Earth orbit, and is then refueled by around five tanker spacecraft before heading to Mars.[150] After landing on Mars, the Sabatier reaction is used to synthesize liquid methane and liquid oxygen, Starship's fuel, in a power-to-gas plant. The plant's raw resources are Martian water and Martian carbon dioxide.[97] On Earth, similar technologies could be used to make carbon-neutral propellant for the rocket.[151]

SpaceX and Musk have stated their goal of colonizing Mars to ensure the long-term survival of humanity,[134][152] with an ambition of sending a thousand Starship spacecraft to Mars during a Mars launch window in a very far future.[153] Musk had maintained an interest in Mars colonization since 2001, when he joined the Mars Society and researched Mars-related space experiments before founding SpaceX in 2002.[154]^{: 99–100, 102, 112} Musk has made tentative estimates of Starship's Mars landing;[92] in March 2022, he gave a date of 2029 for the first crewed Mars landing.[155] SpaceX has not published technical plans about Starship's life support systems, radiation protection,[156] or in-orbit refueling.[150]

Ship 27, Ship 26 and Booster 10 forward section under construction in Starbase build site, March 2023

Starbase consists of a manufacturing facility and launch site,[157] and is located at Boca Chica, Texas. Both facilities operate twenty-four hours a day.[93] A maximum of 450 full-time employees may be onsite.[102]^: 28 The site is planned to consist of two launch sites, one payload processing facility, one seven-acre solar farm, and other facilities.[102]^: 34–36 As of April 2022, the expansion plan's permit has been withdrawn by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, citing lack of information provided.[158] The company leases Starbase's land for the STARGATE research facility, owned by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. It uses part of it for Starship development.[159]

At McGregor, Texas, the Rocket Development facility tests all Raptor engines. The facility has two main test stands: one horizontal stand for both engine types and one vertical stand for sea-level-optimized rocket engines. Other test stands are used for checking Starship's reaction control thrusters and Falcon's Merlin engines. The McGregor facility previously hosted test flights of landable first stages—Grasshopper and F9R Dev1. In the future, a nearby factory, which as of September 2021 was under construction, will make the new generation of sea-level Raptors while SpaceX's headquarters in California will continue building the Raptor Vacuum and test new designs.[160]

At Florida, a facility at Cocoa purifies silica for Starship heat-shield tiles, producing a slurry that is then shipped to a facility at Cape Canaveral. In the past, workers constructed the Starship Mk2 prototype in competition with Starbase's crews.[161] The Kennedy Space Center, also in Florida, is planned to host other Starship facilities, such as Starship launch sites at Launch Complex 39A, the planned Launch Complex 49, and a production facility at Roberts Road. This production facility is being expanded from "Hangar X", the Falcon rocket boosters' storage and maintenance facility. It will include a 30,000 m² (320,000 sq ft) building, loading dock, and a place for constructing integration tower sections.[162]

The under construction orbital launch mount for Starship at Starbase launch site, August 2021

Starbase is planned to host two launch sites, named Pad A and Pad B.[102]^: 34 A launch site at Starbase has large facilities, such as a tank farm, an orbital launch mount, and an integration tower. Smaller facilities are present at the launch site: tanks surrounding the area containing methane, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, hydraulic fluid, etc.;[102]^: 161 subcoolers near the tank farm cool propellant using liquid nitrogen; and various pipes are installed at large facilities.[22] Each tank farm consists of eight tanks, enough to support one orbital launch. The current launch mount on Pad A has a water sound suppression system, twenty clamps holding the booster, and a quick disconnect mount providing liquid fuel and electricity to the Super Heavy booster before it lifts off.[22]

The integration tower or launch tower consists of steel truss sections, a lightning rod on top,[163] and a pair of mechanical arms that can lift, catch and recover the booster.[22] The decision was made to enable flights and reduce the rocket's mass and part count.[36]^: 2 The mechanical arms are attached to a carriage and controlled by a pulley at the top of the tower. The pulley is linked to a winch and spool at the base of the tower using a cable. Using the winch, the carriage, and mechanical arms can move vertically, with support from bearings attached at the sides of the carriage. A linear hydraulic actuator moves the arms horizontally. Tracks are mounted on top of arms, which are used to position the booster or spacecraft. The tower is mounted with a quick disconnect arm extending to and contracting from the Starship spacecraft; its functions are similar to the quick disconnect mount that powers the booster.[22]

Since 2021,[164] the company is constructing a second Starship launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A,[162] which is currently used to launch Crew Dragon capsules to the International Space Station.[164] SpaceX plans to make a separate pad at 39A's north, named Launch Complex 49.[162] Because of Launch Complex 39A's Crew Dragon launches, the company is studying how to strengthen the pad against the possibility of a Starship explosion and proposed to retrofit Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 instead.[164] The towers and mechanical arms at the Florida launch sites should be similar to the one at Starbase, with improvements gained from the experience at Boca Chica.[162]

Phobos and Deimos were the names of two Starship offshore launch platforms, both in renovation as of March 2022.[165] Before being purchased from Valaris Limited in June 2020,[166] they were nearly identical oil platforms named Valaris 8501 and Valaris 8500. However, following further analysis from SpaceX, it has been announced that the offshore platforms were not suitable for Starship launches.[167] The platforms were sold earlier in 2023.[167]

Starship SN15 and SN16 juxtaposed with a local tiki bar

Outside the space community, reception to Starship's development among nearby locales has been mixed, especially from cities close to the Starbase spaceport. Proponents of SpaceX's arrival said the company would provide money, education, and job opportunities to the country's poorest areas. Fewer than one-fifth of those 25 or older in the Rio Grande Valley have a bachelor's degree, in comparison to the national average of one-third.[168] The local government has stated that the company boosted the local economy by hiring residents and investing, aiding the three-tenths of the population who live in poverty.[169]

Activist Elias Cantu of the League of United Latin American Citizens said the company encourages Brownsville's gentrification, with an ever-increasing property valuation.[169] Even though Starbase had originally planned to launch Falcon rockets when the original environmental assessment was completed in 2014,[170] the site in 2019 was subsequently used to develop Starship, ultimately requiring a revised environmental assessment.[171] Some of the tests have ended in large explosions, causing major disruption to residents and wildlife reserves. The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe and environmental activists also allege that SpaceX have overpoliced the area, disrupting indigenous ceremonies and local fishing.[172]

Starship's first integrated spaceflight attempt blasted large amounts of sand in the air, reaching communities within a 10-km (6-mile) radius.[173][174] A small brushfire on nearby state parkland also occurred.[175] There were concerns about the launch's impact on the health of both human residents and endangered species because of the sand blast, which was rumored to be concrete and silt particulate matter before analyses ruled against it.[173][174]

The impact of the launch led to a lawsuit against the FAA, later joined by SpaceX, from four environmental groups and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe.[176][177][178] The disruption to residents is compounded by SpaceX's frequent closures of the road to the beach for vehicle testing.[171] Some residents have moved away or requested financial reparations from the company.[169]