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SpaceX Starship Flight 12 Update_ New Pads, New Vehicles, New Engines · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Booster 18 crumpled during a pressure test in late November
• 0:04
  and SpaceX had one choice except a months long delay or build
• 0:10
  another 69 meter rocket from scratch before the end of the
• 0:14
  year. Now they finished Booster 19 on
• 0:18
  Christmas Eve. That four week turn around sets
• 0:20
  up the most aggressive Starship test campaign yet, with Flight
• 0:23
  12 now targeting March from a launchpad that has never flown
• 0:28
  in vehicles that have never been tested.
• 0:30
  So what happens if something else breaks between now and
• 0:33
  then? SpaceX is betting on everything
• 0:36
  a parallel development, building new pads, new vehicles, and new
• 0:40
  engines simultaneously across 2 states.
• 0:43
  Today, we're going to break down exactly what changed in the
• 0:45
  version three hardware, why Pad 2's flame trench exists because
• 0:49
  Pad 1 failed, and what Ship 39 and Booster 19 still need to
• 0:53
  prove before they can stack up for flight.
• 0:57
  And SpaceX is preparing the most significant Starship upgrade
• 1:01
  since the program began orbital testing in 2023.
• 1:05
  The company has spent the last several months building new
• 1:08
  hardware, demolishing old infrastructure, and racing to
• 1:11
  qualify a replacement booster after an unexpected test failure
• 1:15
  derailed the original timeline. Flight 12 will serve as the
• 1:19
  proving ground for nearly every major system change SpaceX has
• 1:24
  developed over the past year. The launch infrastructure
• 1:27
  overhaul started with a very hard lesson.
• 1:30
  Pad One as Star Base hosted all eleven previous Starship
• 1:33
  flights. But it's flat steel launch mount
• 1:36
  and lack of a flame trench created problems from the very
• 1:39
  first orbital attempt. The April 2023 launch excavated
• 1:44
  a crater beneath the pad as a brief flying across the
• 1:47
  surrounding area. SpaceX responded by adding a
• 1:50
  water cooled steel plate, but the company clearly decided that
• 1:53
  approach had limits. After Flight 11 in late 2025,
• 1:58
  SpaceX stripped Pad 1 down to rebuild it with a concrete flame
• 2:02
  trench, reinforced mount and upgraded tower hardware.
• 2:06
  The rebuild will extend into 2026.
• 2:11
  Now Pad 2 was built in parallel with those hard won lessons
• 2:16
  already incorporated. The new pad features a concrete
• 2:19
  flame deflector with sloped walls, forming a proper trench
• 2:23
  beneath the launch mount. SpaceX completed multiple water
• 2:27
  deluge tests through this system in late 2025, verifying it can
• 2:31
  handle the thermal and acoustic load from 33 Raptor engines.
• 2:36
  The tower itself got upgraded catch arms with protective
• 2:39
  shielding to survive the plume during landing attempts.
• 2:42
  SpaceX also redesigned the propellant connections,
• 2:45
  eliminating the old on booster fuel umbilicals in favor of two
• 2:49
  dedicated quick disconnect ports mounted on the pad itself.
• 2:54
  This change completely simplifies the fuelling sequence
• 2:58
  and reduces the hardware each booster needs to carry.
• 3:02
  Now the expansion extends well beyond South Texas.
• 3:05
  SpaceX has been building Starship infrastructure at
• 3:08
  Kennedy Space Center's LC39A since 2022, when the launch
• 3:12
  tower structure was completed. Throughout 2025, crews added a
• 3:16
  flame trench, mounted the chopstick catch arms, and
• 3:19
  expanded the propellant tank farm.
• 3:21
  The pad still needs substantial plumbing and electrical work
• 3:24
  before it can support a launch, but SpaceX expects to fly
• 3:27
  Starship from Florida by the second-half of 2026.
• 3:32
  In late 2025, the company also received approval to develop
• 3:35
  Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral, where construction
• 3:39
  has begun. A2 additional Starship towers
• 3:42
  combined with the two star base pads.
• 3:44
  That and LC39A combined with the two star base pads and LC39A.
• 3:51
  SpaceX will eventually operate 5 Starship capable launch sites.
• 3:54
  That kind of redundancy enables the high cadence launch system
• 3:57
  and the schedule the SpaceX needs for Starlink deployment,
• 4:01
  lunar missions and eventually Mars operations.
• 4:05
  Now a quick ask from you. If you're part of the 63% of
• 4:08
  people who aren't subscribed yet, hit that button.
• 4:10
  Now. I've covered Space Flight for
• 4:12
  six years. I'm not stopping.
• 4:15
  Now let's get back to the hardware.
• 4:16
  Ship 39 is the first version three star ship.
• 4:19
  It has been fully welded together Spacex's high Bay since
• 4:23
  November. The vehicle incorporates several
• 4:25
  important changes compared to earlier ships.
• 4:28
  It stands a few feet taller than its predecessors and runs on the
• 4:31
  new Raptor 3 engines, which deliver higher thrust and better
• 4:35
  fuel efficiency than the Raptor 2 units used on previous
• 4:38
  flights. The Raptor 3 achieves these
• 4:42
  gains through a simplified design that eliminates external
• 4:44
  shielding and integrates components more tightly,
• 4:47
  reducing weight while increasing chamber pressure.
• 4:50
  The power in avionics systems got upgrades to support longer
• 4:53
  missions, including enhanced battery capacity for extended
• 4:56
  coast phases and more robust flight computers.
• 4:59
  And Ship 39 also carries propellant docking ports visible
• 5:03
  on its hull purpose building hardware for orbital refueling
• 5:07
  operations. Those ports will enable the fuel
• 5:10
  transfer demonstrations to SpaceX needs to complete before
• 5:14
  SpaceX and NASA's Artemis lunar landing missions can proceed.
• 5:18
  SpaceX has contracted with NASA to use Starship as a human
• 5:22
  landing system for Artemis 3, but that mission requires
• 5:25
  proving that one Starship can transfer propellant to another
• 5:29
  in Earth's orbit. A SpaceX ran into a problem
• 5:33
  during ship preparation that required careful attention.
• 5:36
  A composite overwrapped pressure vessel, or COPV, ruptured inside
• 5:41
  an earlier prototype called Ship 36 during testing.
• 5:45
  These high pressure tanks store gases like helium that
• 5:47
  pressurize the main propellant tanks.
• 5:49
  ACOPV failure during flight could be catastrophic, and
• 5:53
  engineers recently swapped out several COPVS inside Ship 39 as
• 5:58
  a precaution before the vehicle begins its test campaign.
• 6:01
  Once these preparations finished, Ship 39 will roll to
• 6:05
  the Massey test site for cryogenic proof testing on a
• 6:07
  hydraulic stand that simulates engine thrust loads.
• 6:11
  And after that comes engine installation and the first
• 6:14
  static fire of a Version 3 Starship.
• 6:18
  Booster 19's rapid assembly deserves closer attention, too.
• 6:22
  SpaceX originally built Booster 18 is the first Block 3 Super
• 6:26
  Heavy, but that vehicle buckled during a pressurization test in
• 6:29
  late November. The failure destroyed the
• 6:32
  prototype and threatened to pressure and push Flight 12 well
• 6:36
  into 2026. A booster crumpling under
• 6:39
  pressure usually indicates A structural weakness on
• 6:42
  procedural error during the test, and either scenario would
• 6:46
  normally trigger a lengthy investigation before building a
• 6:49
  replacement. And instead of accepting that
• 6:52
  delay, SpaceX pivoted the Booster 19 and finished stacking
• 6:55
  the 69 meter vehicle by December 24th.
• 7:00
  That's about four weeks from failure to complete an assembly
• 7:03
  on a replacement booster, which demonstrates how mature Spacex's
• 7:07
  production line has become. The company posted a photo
• 7:10
  showing the fully stacked booster in the Mega Bay, a
• 7:13
  stainless steel skin gleaming under the facility lights.
• 7:17
  And SpaceX now has enough experience building Super Heavy
• 7:20
  boosters that losing 1 prototype to a test failure no longer
• 7:24
  derails the entire program schedule.
• 7:26
  The Block 3 design includes several visible hardware
• 7:30
  changes. Booster 19 has an integrated hot
• 7:33
  staging ray at its top, which allowed Ship 39's engines to
• 7:36
  ignite before stage separation while the boosters engines are
• 7:40
  still running. That technique extracts more
• 7:42
  performance from the system, but requires additional venting and
• 7:46
  structural reinforcement to handle the stress.
• 7:48
  Previous Starship flights used a detachable hot staging adapter
• 7:52
  that added weight and complexity.
• 7:54
  The integrated design eliminates that hardware entirely, and the
• 7:57
  booster also carries just three grid fins instead of four.
• 8:00
  These new fins are roughly 50% larger than the previous design
• 8:04
  and built to survive the loads from a tower catch.
• 8:08
  SpaceX expects the larger surface area to provide better
• 8:11
  control authority during the boost back and landing birds.
• 8:15
  And the propellant feed system got to redesign as well, with a
• 8:17
  more robust down Comer tube size for the higher pressure and flow
• 8:22
  rates that Raptor 3 demands. The test campaign ahead will
• 8:26
  determine whether March 2026 remains realistic for Flight 12.
• 8:31
  SpaceX needs to transport Booster 19 to Massey for a full
• 8:35
  cryogenic proof test, filling the tanks with liquid nitrogen
• 8:39
  to verify structural integrity under pressure.
• 8:42
  The proof test will push the tank walls to flight level
• 8:44
  stresses without the risk of engine ignition, and if that
• 8:47
  succeeds, the booster moves to Pad 2 for a static fire that
• 8:51
  will also validate the new flame deflector and water Dillard
• 8:55
  system under live conditions. That static fire will be the
• 8:58
  first time that Pad 2's infrastructure faces a full 33
• 9:02
  engine firing. Ship 39 follows a similar path,
• 9:06
  Cryogenic proof testing, engine installation, and static fire.
• 9:10
  Both vehicles need to clear these checkpoints before SpaceX
• 9:14
  can stack them for Flight 12. The Flight 12 will attempt
• 9:18
  several objectives if it launches as planned.
• 9:20
  The mission will be the first from Pad 2's upgraded
• 9:23
  infrastructure and the first using all Raptor 3 engines.
• 9:27
  SpaceX may also attempt another booster catch with the tower
• 9:30
  arms, building on the successful catches from Flights 10 and 11,
• 9:34
  and the hot staging sequence with the integrated ring will be
• 9:37
  another first for this configuration.
• 9:39
  Each of these elements carries risk, but SpaceX has shown a
• 9:42
  willingness to accept test failures in exchange for faster
• 9:45
  iteration. SpaceX has assembled ship 39 and
• 9:49
  booster 19 as the first version 3 Starship vehicles, targeting a
• 9:53
  March 2026 launch from the newly completed pad 2 as starbase.
• 9:58
  The company is rebuilding pad one with a flame trench
• 10:01
  expanding to three. SpaceX has assembled Ship 39 and
• 10:07
  Booster 19 as the first Version 3 Starship vehicles, targeting a
• 10:11
  March 2026 launch from a newly completed Pad 2.
• 10:16
  If they get this done in time at Starbase, the company is
• 10:19
  rebuilding Pad one as well, with a flame trench expanding to
• 10:23
  three additional pads in Florida and preparing both vehicles for
• 10:26
  cryo proof tests and static fires in the coming weeks.
• 10:29
  It's going to be exciting. Flight 12 will test new engines,
• 10:32
  new infrastructure, and new hardware configurations in one
• 10:36
  single mission.