According to news on February 4, this week, SpaceX released several photos of the super factory Megabay at the Starship base in southern Texas, USA, on social media X, showing the super heavy booster used in the next three Starship system test flights. Photos show that the factory is filled with towering stainless steel cylinders, and the super-heavy boosters are almost squeezed to the roof of the factory.
SpaceX wrote: "The Super Heavy boosters that will be used on the next three test flights, the fourth one, are ready to be stacked in the Megabay at the Starship base."
The Starship system consists of two parts: the Super Heavy booster and the 50-meter-high Starship upper stage, both of which are designed to be completely rapid and reusable.
When the starship system is stacked, it will be approximately 122 meters high. This is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by humans, capable of launching up to 150 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit.
However, the Starship system has not yet been officially put into operation. So far, the system has only been launched twice, during test flights in April and November last year, both of which ended in violent explosions. However, during the second test flight, the interstellar spacecraft system made great progress. The super heavy booster completed the entire combustion process and successfully separated from the upper interstellar spacecraft. Success on a third flight may be just around the corner.
SpaceX aims to launch a test mission this month, assuming it can obtain a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in time. The FAA is currently investigating the test flight last November.
SpaceX believes that the powerful power and reusability of the Starship system will bring huge breakthroughs in exploring deep space and enable humans to colonize the moon and Mars.
NASA selected Starship as the first manned lunar lander for the Artemis lunar landing program. The goal of the plan is to establish a permanent base on and around the moon by the late 2020s. If all goes according to plan, Starship will carry out the Artemis 3 mission in 2026, sending astronauts to the lunar surface.