SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday to test Starfall, a new disk-shaped uncrewed reentry capsule designed to return cargo from space.
SpaceX Tests Secretive Starfall Reentry Capsule
The company developed the saucer-shaped pod under a veil of secrecy. An environmental assessment published by the Federal Aviation Administration last month said Starfall is meant to support the "transport and delivery of goods through space."
According to Ars Technica, the first Starfall demonstration began at 6:53 a.m. EDT, or 10:53 UTC, when a Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. At least one Starfall pod rode to orbit on the rocket, possibly with another undisclosed payload.
SpaceX’s official mission page listed a launch timeline but provided little additional information about the payload or the exact sequence of events for the Falcon 9 upper stage.
SpaceX Says Craft Will Splash Down
"Today’s mission includes a demo of a new vehicle that will enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing," SpaceX posted on X. "After demonstrating controlled flight, the spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean."
Most public details about Starfall come from the FAA review. The agency said the vehicle could "enable point-to-point delivery of critical cargo through space on rapid timelines" and support commercial in-space manufacturing, a young market largely focused on pharmaceuticals and other materials that must return to Earth.
The FAA approved SpaceX’s proposal for two Starfall reentry demonstrations but did not say whether they would occur on one or two missions. The agency said SpaceX plans to recover the vehicle, including parachutes and heat shields, "to the maximum extent practicable."
Starfall Expands SpaceX’s Commercial Ambitions
The FAA said Starfall could build on earlier work aboard the International Space Station. "For example, Starfall can serve as a proliferated successor to the International Space Station (ISS), taking the ISS’s successful manufacturing experiments and scaling them to a self-sustaining manufacturing economy in space," the agency wrote.
It is worth noting that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has previously raised concerns about the safety of the International Space Station, and even called for it to be deorbited.
The launch adds another commercial angle to SpaceX after its blockbuster IPO and as the company pitches a broader space-enabled economy.
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