SpaceX’s secretive plans to deliver cargo to Earth from space

SpaceX launched its secretive Starfall delivery system today, which saw a demo capsule blast off to low Earth orbit. There are few details about the launch or a future service, but SpaceX has previously said Starfall will enable cargo delivery from space, such as for manufactured materials in low Earth orbit like pharmaceutical compounds or semiconductor alloys.

The Starfall capsule took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at around 6.50am local time (1152 BST) this morning, riding on a Falcon 9 rocket, which later landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

What will Starfall do?

SpaceX hasn’t revealed much publicly about Starfall, but an assessment published by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in May showed that the project’s purpose was for the “transport and delivery of goods through space”. SpaceX has said that the mission will allow for “routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing”. The FAA assessment also showed that two associated re-entry vehicle landings were approved for this demonstration mission.

Unlike SpaceX’s spacecraft that ferry human passengers to the International Space Station, the vehicle for Starfall is designed for cargo only. It is a windowless, black, stumpy cylinder, measuring around 3 metres across and less than a metre tall, and has capacity for a 1-tonne payload. The capsule is split into two parts that are designed to separate after re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere: an upper dish where the payload is stored, and a heat shield made from carbon fibre beneath it, which also has compressed gas that can be used to manoeuvre the cargo safely to Earth.

What happened during the launch?

After the Falcon 9 rocket took off, the booster successfully landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. However, SpaceX has provided no further updates about the Starfall capsule in space, such as how long it will remain in orbit before it aims to splash down in the Pacific Ocean 1300 kilometres from the Californian coast.

Is SpaceX the only company doing this?

There are much smaller companies that are seeking to manufacture materials in low Earth orbit, such as the US company Varda Space Industries (VSI), which aims to make pharmaceuticals in orbit before flying them back to Earth, or the Welsh company Space Forge, which hopes to make semiconductors and alloys in low Earth orbit.

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These companies, however, operate at a much smaller scale than Starfall. VSI has flown six containers to orbit, but these are only around a metre wide and have a total weight of 300 kilograms, whereas Starfall is three times larger.

SpaceX has contracts with the US military, of which Starfall could play a part. The Pentagon has announced a project called Rocket Cargo, which would use SpaceX’s larger Starship rocket to deliver supplies to remote locations in under an hour, but Starfall could plug the gap for smaller deliveries. The US military has also signed contracts with other companies, such as Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and New Zealand-based Rocket Lab, to study the possibility of cargo delivery from space.