SpaceX Launches Secretive Starfall Disc Capsule: Hockey Puck-Shaped Cargo Capsule Targets Space Manufacturing And Rapid Military Delivery Markets
According to Axios, SpaceX launched its secretive Starfall cargo capsule on its first test flight Tuesday, with the company describing it as a vehicle that will “enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing.”
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:53 a.m. ET, with SpaceX confirming deployment in orbit at 10:01 a.m. ET. SpaceX cut its public broadcast shortly after booster landing, well before capsule deployment, in a move typically associated with national security missions.
Each Starfall capsule is about 2.5 feet tall, 10 feet across and able to carry 2,200 lbs. of payload. It has two sections: one for the payload and one for the heat shield. The capsules use compressed inert gas for attitude control but cannot deorbit themselves, instead flying a pre-set path or being deorbited by another spacecraft. After demonstrating controlled flight, the capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean about 700 nautical miles off the US west coast.
If SpaceX can prove out rapid suborbital delivery, at least one major potential customer seems obvious: the Pentagon, which would value the ability to rapidly deliver supplies anywhere on Earth in under an hour.
Space is becoming a factory floor. Starfall is SpaceX’s bet on owning the return trip. Check out our previous coverage of space exploration and SpaceX here.
