SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 Tuesday from Cape Canaveral to test Starfall, a saucer-shaped reentry pod built to deliver cargo anywhere on Earth from low-Earth orbit.
Developed in secrecy and cleared by an FAA environmental assessment last month, Starfall will orbit Earth twice before the Falcon 9 upper stage releases it for a parachute-assisted Pacific splashdown roughly 800 miles west of California. At least one vehicle flies on this mission, possibly alongside an undisclosed second payload.
The full article is worth reading for what it does not yet answer: who the customers are, what cargo classes the pod supports, and how SpaceX prices point-to-point orbital delivery against existing logistics. The secrecy around Starfall suggests commercial or defense contracts are already in the pipeline.
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