It’s not just the first outing for the redesigned Starship V3 this evening, the launch pad itself has also been renewed. Flight 12 will mark the first launch from Pad 2 at the SpaceX Starbase facility in Texas.
“The propellant farm that stores the required commodities has been upgraded with increased storage capacity and significantly more pumps, enabling much faster vehicle filling for launch,” the company said in a statement.
It added: “On the launch tower, the chopsticks are now shorter, allowing faster motion to better track vehicles during catch operations. Their main actuators have been changed from hydraulic to electromechanical to improve speed, redundancy, and reliability. The quick disconnect arm for loading propellant into the Starship upper stage has been strengthened, repackaged, and now rotates farther away from the rocket during launch.”
