StarShip Flight 12 with version 3

Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the test of the StarShip in its version 3 will be carried out. The V3 version has significant improvements based on the learnings from the previous tests, it has Raptor 3 engines with greater thrust, which are lighter, with improved ignition and thermal protection and without the need for individual covers.

There are also changes in the design, larger tanks, simplified propulsion systems, more robust rear flaps and capacity for long duration flights, the Super Heavy V3 rocket has fewer grid fins, it has three instead of four, but the three it has now are larger and stronger. There are improvements in the fluid systems, redesigns and they have improved the separation between the ship and the rocket, something that in the past caused quite a few problems, will now be done much easier and more efficiently.

They are also going to launch a new launch platform with improvements in the reception of the rocket and the ship, although in this case they will not receive them. There is greater capacity to have propeller, the arms or chopsticks have been improved in the tower called mechacilia, which would be the receiver of the rocket and the ship. Although I repeat, this time this is not going to happen, and there is a new advanced bidirectional flame deflector. The deflector serves to divide the rocket flare so that it is not concentrated in a single point that could result in the destruction of the launch platform. It sounds brutal, but it is what really happened in the first launch of a Starship, the platform was destroyed.

If everything goes well, we should see the launch, the separation, the Starship ship in space deploying 20 Starlink satellite simulators, because we must remember that in addition to the lunar program, this ship will be SpaceX's great transport vehicle to space for the future, it will send satellites, modules, space stations and any equipment it hires, any company or nation that wants to send to space.

During the test, the StarShip ship will reach space, but it will not be able to make a complete revolution around the Earth, it will not be an orbital test, it will be suborbital and it also does so as a safety measure, because you see, by staying only 1% of the orbital speed necessary to maintain a stable circular trajectory, that is, staying in Earth orbit, this allows or guarantees that if the ship loses the telimetry, if there is a failure and it ends up drifting, the Earth's own gravity will bring it back naturally, without leaving it temporarily in low Earth orbit, which would be a big problem due to its enormous size.

After deploying the simulated satellites, the StarShip will make re-entry, which will also be a key moment because the resistance of the heat shield will be tested. The test will end with a splashdown in the ocean, both the rocket and the ship will be destroyed at sea, they will not be recovered, although in the future they do plan to be able to recover both, but in this case the rocket will end up being destroyed in the Gulf of Mexico and the StarShip ship in the Indian Ocean.

So far this is what is expected from the test, the question is, how is the evolution of the Starship going in general? because be careful, it is not simply the development of a private company's ship, this is not something they do with their money. This private company has its projects and its risks and if it goes well, then good for them and if it goes wrong then well, they have lost it. In this case, the Starship is an essential piece of the Artemis program, a program financed with public money, not only from the United States, there are many more nations involved in this program with a projection to reach the Moon and then Mars.

And the Starship is the main ship or rather the version they make of the Starship will be the lunar landing ship, as plan B would be the Blue Moon from the company Blue Origin, if the development of the StarShip is delayed, the entire Artemis program will also be delayed and China can win the current race to reach the Moon in this 21st century.

And things are not going well for the Starship, Elon Musk promised a little over a year ago that there would be tests and launches at a rate of one a month, maybe even one every 15 days, but the reality is that 7 months have passed since the last test, it was on October 13, 2025, it is a notable delay compared to the faster pace that occurred at the end of 2025.

Why is this delay happening? The explanation they give is that this delay is due to the introduction of a new larger and more complex version, the V3 and yes, it is larger, it is more than 1 meter higher, it reaches 124.4 m in height, it is the tallest rocket ever built. It clearly surpasses the lunar rocket by 5 minutes and 54 seconds. Soviet N1, which was 105 m high, and NASA's Saturn 5, 111 m high.

The V3 not only gains in height, it also stands out in other functions of reuse, cadence and load capacity, the others will be use and throw rockets or rather use and destroy.

Other points that justify the delay is the new launch platform and well, it is logical, building a structure of this size takes time, in addition, there were problems in the development of the new engines, but with all these new features, with this V3, with this entry into play in a new, more powerful league, the logical thing is that we will see an increase in the number of tests and they will be increasingly more spectacular to reach the revised Artemis 3 mission.

Artemis 3 is what the first lunar mission of this program was originally called that would take astronauts to the surface of the moon, but the entire schedule of the Artemis program underwent a remodeling and now Artemis 3 will be the mission in which the assembly of the Orion ship with the StarShip in low Earth orbit or if it were also ready with Blue Origin's Blue Moon is tested.

Initially it was planned that it would be mid-2027, but a few weeks ago it was announced that it would be the end of 2027, let's hope it will not be in 2028, because this test is essential, since according to the lunar mission scheme, the astronauts must travel from the Earth to the Moon in the Orion ship, when they reach lunar orbit, they must assemble with the StarShip, enter it and land on the moon with that StarShip, while the Orion stays in orbit lunar waiting for the return of the Starship with the astronauts, once all the astronauts inside the Orion ship return to Earth.

That is why the Artemis 3 mission is so extremely important. Let's hope the evolution of this ship goes well.

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