Elon Musk’s Starship Rocket Is About to Get a Massive Upgrade

SpaceX’s latest test flight of its Starship rocket was a success Monday evening, paving the way for the aerospace company to debut an even more powerful version. It marked an optimistic ending to a test campaign of Starship version two that was initially marked by failures. 

On the back of Monday evening’s successful launch—the eleventh for Starship overall and final for version two—SpaceX is poised to begin testing Starship V3 later this year or early next.

“Starship’s eleventh flight test reached every objective, providing valuable data as we prepare the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy,” SpaceX detailed in a post on social media platform X.

The Starship lifted off from Starbase, the SpaceX company town incorporated in Texas earlier this year, on Monday evening around 7:23 p.m. ET. The Super Heavy rocket successfully splashed down off the coast of Texas, using 12 of 13 engines (one did not ignite). After liftoff, Starship achieved its desired velocity and trajectory and deployed eight satellites meant to represent real Starlink satellites. After the satellite test, Starship relit an engine in flight, which CNN noted was meant to test how the spacecraft may in the future maneuver itself back to land after a mission. It then re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling data gathering on its heat shield, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX disclosed in a statement that it has multiple vehicles of the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy in active build. Whereas the Super Heavy is the first stage rocket booster, the Starship is the second stage booster and spacecraft in one. Those future vehicles will be used to test Starship in orbital flights, for “operational payload missions,” and more.

The Starship and Super Heavy rocket are designed to be fully reusable and capable of returning to their launch site and relaunching without refurbishment. The system is meant to carry payloads of up to 150 metric tons, or 250 metric tons if not being reused. SpaceX also states on its website that it aims for the Starship to carry up to 100 people on “long-duration, interplanetary flights” as well as to deliver satellites and help develop a moon base. This language hints at SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s grander ambitions for the Starship and its Heavy Rocket to ferry passengers to Mars.

But this past year in testing has been a fraught one for Starship. This year alone, four vehicles exploded—three during flight tests and one on the ground. That said, Musk and the team at SpaceX are already looking ahead to Starship version three, which CNN reported is expected to test later this year or early next.