— Max Evans (@_mgde_) October 14, 2024 In 2024, SpaceX expanded its production facility, building a nearly one million-square-foot factory for Starship, nicknamed the “Starfactory.” Inside it, SpaceX has started producing a new generation of Starship vehicles that will improve the rocket’s capabilities, durability, and performance. As outlined before, SpaceX also hopes to launch its Starlink v3 satellites in 2025 and is already planning a deployment test of 10 satellite simulators on Starship’s next flight. Other milestones set for this year include extended on-orbit testing of the ship, the ship’s landing back at the launch tower arms, and the transfer of propellants in orbit between ships. These will likely lead to secondary milestones, such as the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster and potentially a ship. SpaceX aims to fly Starship up to 25 times in 2025 and has already started a tiered environmental assessment with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase the number of launches allowed at Starbase per year from five to 25. In 2024, SpaceX started constructing a second launch pad at Starbase in South Texas, which should increase Starship’s launch cadence in 2025. SpaceX also resumed its Starship activity in Florida, where teams are reconfiguring Starship launch hardware at LC-39A to update it for the new design. The company also continues to work on its environmental assessment for this updated design and increased cadence, aiming for an initial cadence of 44 launches per year from LC-39A. A second Starship launch pad is also expected to be built in Florida. In 2024, SpaceX started the regulatory paperwork needed for a Starship launchpad at Space Launch Complex 37, the former launch site of the now-retired Delta IV Heavy. SpaceX is also expanding its footprint at Roberts Road within the Kennedy Space Center, where it is building the new Starship launch mount that will be placed at LC-39A. This north expansion will feature a first phase with an area as big as the Starbase production site in Texas. While perhaps no Starship launches may take place from Florida in 2025, the site will be abuzz with activity preparing for SpaceX’s future workhorse rocket. (Lead image: Top left: Falcon Heavy’s launch of GOES-U, Falcon 9’s launch of Crew-9 (Credit: Max Evans for NSF). Top right: Jared Isaacman conducting his spacewalk during Polaris Dawn (Credit: Polaris Program). Bottom left: a Starlink v2-Mini satellite stack in orbit (Credit: SpaceX). Bottom right: the launch of Starship’s sixth flight (Credit: D Wise for NSF))