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How to Watch SpaceX Launch Its Secretive Starfall Capsule
Gizmodo • • general
Key Points:
- SpaceX is set to launch the first flight of Starfall, a reentry vehicle designed for in-orbit manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and other products, on June 23 from Cape Canaveral using a Falcon 9 rocket.
- The Starfall capsules are disk-shaped, measuring 10.2 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall, equipped with heat shields and parachutes for safe reentry and splashdown, carrying up to 1,000 kilograms of payload.
- The mission aims to leverage microgravity to manufacture materials with higher purity and crystalline perfection, potentially transforming industries like pharmaceuticals.
- Starfall competes with startups like Varda Space Industries but benefits from SpaceX’s extensive launch capabilities and plans for mass production of capsules.
- This demo mission could mark SpaceX’s entry into the emerging and potentially lucrative market of in-orbit manufacturing and point-to-point cargo delivery.
