Space Exploration Private Spaceflight
SpaceX wants to build 1 Starship megarocket a day with new Starfactory
By Meredith Garofalo published June 8, 2024
“This will enable us to increase our production rate significantly as we build toward our long-term goal of producing one Ship per day.”
workers on scaffolding in hard hats next to a giant metal rocket
Workers next to a SpaceX Starship as the sun sets behind them ahead of a launch from SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on April 18, 2023. (Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon /AFP/Getty Images)
Sure, the test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket this week was nail-biting. But it was also a massive win for SpaceX with a successful fourth test for Starship.
The company’s goals for this test flight were accomplished as Starship’s first-stage booster, Super Heavy, made a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and the 165-foot tall (50 m) upper stage, referred to simply as Ship, made a controlled landing burn during reentry before landing in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX now aims to build on the progress with its Starship program as continues work on Starfactory, a new manufacturing facility under construction at the company’s Starbase site in South Texas. As it looks to use Starship to eventually make humanity interplanetary, SpaceX has stated the ambitious goal of producing one new Starship rocket every single day at the new facility.
As it looks to use Starship to eventually make humanity interplanetary
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But its too heavy and getting heavier. Not a good choice for interplanetary travel, unless its nuclear powered.
Starship needs constant refueling from prepositioned fuel rockets, which makes it needlessly complicated, fault prone, and expensive.