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As it prepares for Starship Flight 7, SpaceX is busy producing rockets for future flights to fuel the Starship 2025 test campaign. Footage from local media in Boca Chica, Texas, shows the company producing upper-stage Starship rocket components at its factory. SpaceX is building a massive factory in Boca Chica called the Starfactory, which it plans to produce 1,000 Starship upper stage rockets annually. Footage today shows technicians working on Starship’s upper stage, complete with heat shield tiles. It also shows the robot welding the Starship’s nose cone from various angles.

SpaceX Increases Speed ​​With Starship Flight 7 Test In Texas

SpaceX is producing the upper and lower stages of the Starship rocket in stages. Once the steel sheets are rolled into tubes, the tubes are welded together to form the basic structure that surrounds the rocket tank and other internal structures. Especially for the second stage of the Starship spacecraft, because the front or upper stage uses a cover and must be shaped aerodynamically for ascent, the assembly is different from the others.

Referred to as the ship’s nosecone, footage from local media shows this part being welded by robots at SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Teas. These facilities are part of a sprawling complex called Starbase, and include the world’s largest rocket manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities.

SpaceX has begun operations at its massive Starfactory. Some operations at the plant include inspecting thousands of heat shield tiles in the nosecone after they are installed. For Starship Flight 7 and beyond, SpaceX will use improved heat shield tiles and a new design for the upper stage to improve its reliability during reentry.

Footage from local media in Texas showed workers and robots working on Starship’s nosecone for what may be a rocket component destined for future flights. SpaceX’s welding robot is clearly visible because it makes small changes to the nosecone, which makes the sparks barely visible. Technicians, on the other hand, work on the nosecone with the heat shield tile installed.

As engineers and robots work on building Starship’s upper stage for future flights, SpaceX is also busy testing its 232-foot Super Heavy booster on the launch pad. Additional media footage showed that the company performed a spin prime test on the booster pump to ensure it could inject propellant and fuel into the engine. SpaceX also appears to have conducted tank tests on its boosters to verify the structural integrity of the tanks and other systems before the flight.

This kind of testing usually paves the way for static fire testing. A static fire, which ignites a rocket engine, is usually one of the few tests before a flight. Starship Flight 7 will take place in January, and this test will be an important stepping stone for the Starship program. This test will allow SpaceX to test the Starship upper stage further before it can attempt to capture a potential tower from the rocket’s upper stage.

Looking forward to Starship Flight 7? Starbase is already working on vehicles for several flights until 2025. Oh and of course using robots.

Full video in reply. pic.twitter.com/x3NknOVxSY

— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) December 8, 2024