SpaceX makes progress on second Starship launch pad

SpaceX continues to grind away at the work needed to complete its second launch pad for its Starship rocket. The company has learned a lot from its first pad and is now getting closer to having an upgraded pad in almost every way in the near future.

New Starship catch arms installed

Since the beginning of the year, SpaceX has been working on finishing up the installation of Pad B’s catch arms. These are used to… well, hence the name… catch the Starship’s booster and eventually ship it for reuse. The arms are shorter, reducing weight, which shows how confident SpaceX is in its catching abilities even after only two successful catches.

SpaceX successfully installed the two chopsticks last week after they completed the assembly of the carriage and the two arms on a temporary stand. SpaceX is now working on adding the rest of the components needed for moving the catch arms up and down, and opening and closing them.

Launch mount nearing completion

A big change coming to the second Starship launch pad will be the rocket’s launch mount. A much more engineered design and square, the mount now contains a water-cooled deck. The mount is currently being built over at the production facility, near where the catch arms were assembled, and has been covered in scaffolding for months.

Some of that scaffolding has begun to come down, signaling that workers are nearing completion of it. However, it might take some time still before it can meet the rest of the launch pad, as where it will go still looks to have a lot of work to be done.

Flame trench still in the work

An even bigger change to Starship Launch Pad B will be a flame trench beneath the launch mount. Launch Pad A is currently elevated high above the ground on stilts. This leaves room for the exhaust to not cause massive damage to the water-cooled plate below, but it still kicks up plenty of dust and debris. The openness beneath the mount also means that the forces of the boosters’ 33 Raptor engines can be directed in multiple directions.

To improve this system, SpaceX is going old school and is digging out a flame trench to direct the exhaust in only two directions, away from anything important. This will be done with a massive, and what looks like water-cooled, flame diverting system being assembled next to the launch mount.

The trench is still in the process of being dug out, something that could take months more to complete. Digging a trench so close to sea level is not an easy task. The trench will be as large as those built for the Apollo Program over at Kennedy Space Center, but it is in the ground rather than partially above it. This will also mean that Starship will be placed lower to the ground than on Pad A, making it look shorter. However, once Starship Block 3 comes online, the rocket will still be taller than its Block 1 and Block 2 counterparts.