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SpaceX’s new Starship pad appears in first close-up photo
A new close-up shows SpaceX’s fast-rising Starship service tower in Florida as the company expands launch and assembly capacity for Mars plans.
Image: iXBT
A high-quality close-up has surfaced of SpaceX’s new Starship launch infrastructure in Florida, offering the clearest look yet at the rapidly rising service tower under construction at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. At the base of the structure, a Tesla Cybertruck is also visible.
SpaceX is building out multiple sites along the US Space Coast at the same time. Work is underway at LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center and at SLC-37 on Cape Canaveral. In parallel, the company is constructing two massive Gigabay production and assembly complexes: one at Starbase, Texas, and the other in Florida.
According to the report, each Gigabay is expected to become one of the largest buildings in the world and is designed to support assembly of up to 1,000 Starship vehicles per year. Both facilities are planned to come online by the end of 2026, a move aimed at sharply increasing rocket production for future Mars missions.
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The new infrastructure is meant to let SpaceX launch Starship from multiple pads, significantly increasing flight cadence. That would add to the company’s existing Starbase complex in Texas and support a growing mix of commercial missions and launches tied to NASA programs.
The report adds that construction at the new Kennedy Space Center Starship launch site has recently accelerated. It also notes that SpaceX had to cancel the 13th Starship test flight during the launch window on July 16, 2026, in Texas.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via iXBT
