The FAA environmental review approved SpaceX’s proposal for two Starfall reentry demonstrations. He did not specify whether these demonstrations would be carried out in one or two missions. SpaceX intends to recover the vehicle, including parachutes and heat shields, “to the greatest extent possible,” the FAA said.
The Starfall vehicle is cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of 3.1 meters (10.2 feet) and a height of 0.75 meters (2.5 feet). Starfall weighs approximately 4,600 pounds (2.1 metric tons) with capacity for approximately 2,200 pounds (1 metric ton) of payload, for a total weight of 6,800 pounds (3.1 metric tons). Designed exclusively for cargo, Starfall is smaller than SpaceX’s human-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft used to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
A closer look at the Starfall reentry vehicle.
Credit: SpaceX
A closer look at the Starfall reentry vehicle.
Credit: SpaceX
The first Starfall Demo mission will spend a few hours in low Earth orbit, but the vehicle could also fly on shorter suborbital trajectories after launch on Falcon 9 or the much larger Starship rocket. This version of Starfall is not capable of deorbiting itself, instead relying on its launch vehicle to guide it back into the atmosphere. After separating from its rocket carrier, the disc-shaped vehicle uses compressed nitrogen gas to point its heat shield in the correct direction for reentry.
So who could use something like Starfall? The US military is an obvious answer. The Pentagon is already working with SpaceX on a concept called Rocket loading or point to point deliverywhich would use Starship to deliver massive loads of equipment and supplies to remote locations in less than an hour. Starship is a massive vehicle, nearly 20 stories high and 30 feet wide, that must land at prepared sites. Starfall could prove to be a more versatile option for lighter deliveries.
The military has also signed agreements with Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and Anduril for studies and development of technologies for global cargo delivery from space. Despite Starship still in experimental flight testing, SpaceX may have an early advantage with the Starfall delivery vehicle.
