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Something New: What's the Hardware Status of Starship Version 2?

April 15, 2024 by Avatar Image·Last update May 28, 2024·14 minute read
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Seven V1 vehicles in the Rocket Garden.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

The next major revision of Starship has been dubbed "version 2" by SpaceX, and recently,  they've finally unveiled some artistic renders of its design. There has been a lot of debate about what we may or may not see on this vehicle, and there are a few things that we can say with relative confidence.

We've been tracking numerous pathfinder components for a while, as you may have seen sporadically around the internet already, and today we're going to recap the development of the hardware that we've spotted thus far. This article is more speculative than normal, and we'll make it clear what's extra speculative, but this is essentially all we know.

Version 2 of the ship holds more propellant, reduces dry mass and improves reliability.

-- Elon Musk, CEO, SpaceX, Twitter Post, 24 Nov 2023
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Comparison between V1, V2, and V3 vehicles.  |  Chart courtesy of SpaceX

An Important Note

While it's fun to speculate about these revisions, much of the following is only our best interpretation of imagery and trends, but with that said, you'll be able to have a complete overview of what we know.

As a result of SpaceX's iterative approach to production, sometimes numerous vehicles must be scrapped to skip to a better revision, and we're seeing a similar thing during the transition from version 1 to version 2 vehicles.

A prime example of this is when Serial Numbers 16, 17, 18, and 19 were skipped in favour of Ship 20, and when Ships 21, 22, and 23 were skipped in favour of Ship 24.

In this situation, we believe that Ships 33, 34, and 35 are being skipped in favour of Ship 36, which should be the first version 2 Ship. As of publishing, Ship 32 remains incomplete in the Rocket Garden, but that may be finished at a later date, so we're only referencing Ships that have had actual hardware for them scrapped.

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Serial Number 17's aft section in the scrapyard.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

Into the Dumpster

Before we mention the changes on the version 2 Ship that we've noticed, we'll recap the events regarding the scrapping of Ships 33, 34, and 35, in addition to hardware originally slated for all the way up to Ship 38.

With the smaller forward flaps being prominent in the renderings, and likely a multitude of internal changes, it's clear why SpaceX had to dispose of so much hardware.

The Nosecone Exodus

In June of 2023, SpaceX began clearing out their nosecones from Tent 3 at the production site. In total, we saw 5 full-height nosecones and 3 partial nosecones all leave the tent, with only 3 of them ever making their way onto a vehicle.

Ship 30's nosecone.  |  Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 31's nosecone.  |  Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 32's nosecone.  |  Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 33's original nosecone.  |  Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel
Ship 34's original nosecone.  |   Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 35's original nosecone.  |   Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 36's original nosecone.  |   Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 37's original nosecone.  |   Photos courtesy of LabPadre Sentinel and Kevin Randolph for WAI Media
Ship 38's original LOX header tank.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for WAI Media

The chart below goes over the nosecones, their status at the time, their assignments, and what happened to them. 

The bolded text indicates what was confirmed by labels, and we extrapolate from there to fill in the blanks.

Nosecone #Ship #Completion State
NC33Ship 30Full
NC34Ship 31Full
NC35Ship 32Full
NC36Ship 33Full
NC37Ship 34Full
NC38Ship 35Half
NC39Ship 36Half
NC40Ship 37Half
NC41Ship 38N/A

The NC41 nosecone itself (missing the LOX header) was kept for a while, and still exists today, as it seemingly had some tile pathfinding done with it. Today, it's just sitting in the scrapyard awaiting its inevitable fate.

The reason we've gone over all of this scrapping is because it explains a numbering discrepancy with the nosecones starting on the version 2 Ship, as Ship 32 uses NC35, and Ship 36 is seemingly using NC42, according to a label. However, assignments can always change.

Barrels into the Bin

While the nosecones were the most visible things to be scrapped, nearly all of Ship 33's barrel sections, including the forward, common, and aft dome sections, were all scrapped.

In addition to this, the small number of sections we had tracked for Ship 34 disappeared and were probably scrapped at one point.

We never explicitly saw Ship 33's payload bay section get scrapped, and it could very well still be hiding somewhere, but it's not expected to be used at this point. Who knows though, maybe we'll see another amazing abomination of a Ship.

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Ship 33's aft section in the scrapyard.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

The New Stuff

This is probably the part everybody is most interested in, so now that you've read all of the tracking stuff at the start, we'll take a closer look at the new pathfinder hardware that SpaceX has been working on since last year.

In fact, it seems that pathfinding may have started around last summer, lining up with all of the nosecone scrapping action, though we can't be exactly sure about this.

New Nosecones

Currently, numerous nosecones in the Starfactory should be for the new Ships, although some of these may be, and likely are, pathfinders to commission the new factory tooling.

While these nosecones look very clean at this point, they are all still incredibly early in production and are yet to be outfitted with their internal hardware.

Similarly, while these do not have the six large crane hooks, and may not receive them at all, these have been photographed very early in the build phase.

Nosecone in the Starfactory.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Another partial nosecone in the Starfactory.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight

We do know that the nosecones are the same shape, however, and are not any blunter or pointier. In the scaled comparison below, you can slowly drag across and see it follow the same curve.

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Comparison between a V2 and V1 nosecone section.  |  Photos courtesy of Sean Doherty for NASASpaceflight and RGV Aerial Photography

We'll have to wait a bit longer to fully learn about what will be new on these nosecones, and there likely are new things, seeing as SpaceX scrapped their entire stockpile of nosecones.

LOX Header Tank

The liquid oxygen header tank, which sits at the very tip of Starship's nosecone, has seemingly been redesigned, with a new slanted shape that has a funnel built into it. The old design essentially just had a pipe jabbed into the side of it, so this may be related to fluid management in both the horizontal and vertical orientations.

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Revised LOX header aft hemispherical section.  |  Photo courtesy of Sean Doherty for NASASpaceflight

We have even seen these sections from the air, allowing us to see quite how far off to the side this funnel portion sits.

This exact part is known as the LOX header aft hemi section, which we have seen on labels time and time again, including this time, and it refers to it being the lower hemispherical section of the header tank, as there is a partial section that is eventually added to the top.

Updated LOX header tank aft hemi section, as seen from the air.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography
LOX header tank funnel component.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

Below is a rendered comparison between the original design and our interpretation of the updated design. Be aware that we had to fill in the blanks in some spots, so this is a speculative render, and we'll probably learn more as time goes on.

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Comparison between the V1 and V2 LOX header tank design.  |  Renders courtesy of Chameleon Circuit

Payload Bay Pathfinders

During the middle of December, 2023, we began tracking an odd 3-ring section with lots of internal stringers. Since then, we have confirmed this was the first sighting of a payload bay pathfinder that was spotted again on April 4th of 2024.

With that aside, there are a few obvious things that we can notice. Some of this will be a repeat of the Twitter post we previously made, and many other creators have gone over this already, but we'll go over it again. There has been more than one pathfinder spotted, but we'll specifically talk about the one that is newest and furthest along in development.

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Payload bay production pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight

The most visible change is that this barrel section is three rings tall, rather than five rings tall like the current payload bay sections. It's possible that this is a subscale piece just because it can for the sake of the pathfinding phase, but it's also possible that it will be shorter on the flight vehicle, and there's nothing to say they can't change the assembly process and stack more rings on top.

Another noticeable thing is what appears to be a denser layout of internal stringers, which may be something they've learned was necessary throughout their flight tests and structural tests. We've also noticed that these stringers seem to be a solid design instead of perforated on the surface, but this could just be for the pathfinding phase where mass is a lot less important.

Solid internal stringers inside the payload bay pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Internal stringers with cutouts inside a V1 payload bay.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for WAI Media

Curiously, this style of stringer holds some resemblance to those installed on Ship 26 earlier this year, but it's a different number and may not indicate anything extraordinary. It's possibly something to follow though.

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External stringers on Ship 26's payload bay area.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for LabPadre Photo Review

The dispenser door, or rather, the cuts for the eventual door, are located overtop of a ring seam instead of on a solid ring like the version 1 design, which may indicate the door is moving higher or lower on the Ship. Without fully understanding the section layout, it could really be either.

We can also notice that the old design was very angular, whereas the updated design is rounded.

Pathfinder for the revised payload bay with a partially cut-out door.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Ship 29's payload bay with a partially cut-out door.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for WAI Media

On the ring directly below the door, we can see the crew access hatch for servicing, which seems to have been rotated 90 degrees, and we can also see the cuts for the eventual external onboard cameras.

There is also a large hole in the middle of the payload bay, which has a similar size and shape to the pressure release vents on the tank sections, although it's too early to be sure that will be its purpose. In addition to that, some other cuts are harder to see, and are likely for raceway connections.

Hardware cutouts beneath the payload door on the revised payload bay pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Hardware on the forward dome section of Ship 25.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

There are 2 oval-shaped cutouts on this ring, but these are also being retrofitted onto Ship 29 as of writing, so there's likely another story with these that we'll have to look into as the modifications progress.

Oval-shaped cutouts on the revised payload bay pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
New oval-shaped cutouts on Ship 29.  | Photo courtesy of John Cargile for WAI Media

Something curious is the addition of two rounded cutouts on the left and right of the payload bay, which hold a resemblance to the lifting points for the two-point-lifter and chopsticks on the current Starship.

If true, this may indicate that SpaceX is lowering the lifting points on the Ship. According to SpaceX, the version 2 Ship is 1.8m taller than the version 1 Ship, which is pretty much exactly one extra ring. While this may not necessitate the relocation of the lifting points, it's possible that this is being done preemptively. 

If these aren't for lifting points, then there are still additional cutouts for large items that seemingly collide with the heatshield, so it's interesting nonetheless.

Potential lifting point cutout on the revised payload bay pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Lifting point on Ship 27.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for WAI Media

Tiny Tiles

You may or may not be aware that SpaceX has been testing out the use of significantly smaller heat tiles that use the pin system to attach to the Ship. We've seen a couple of pathfinders with these pins installed, one of which had test tiles and real tiles clipped on.

Notice that there are small groupings of external stringers placed in some areas, staying within the bounds of the tile mounts.

A tiny tile pathfinder section.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for LabPadre Photo Review
A tiny patch of tiny tiles on a (relatively) tiny 2-ring barrel.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

A pathfinder from February of 2024 featured both the large and tiny tile pins, which may indicate that SpaceX intends on using both of these designs strategically placed in different areas.

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The second tiny tiles pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of LabPadre Rover 1

This pathfinder specifically had a band of tiny pins on the top ring of the barrel, which looks suspiciously similar to the aft section of the Ship and the area where it receives external stringers.

On the version 1 vehicle, the tiles in this area are fixed into place with an adhesive, so this may be SpaceX attempting to move away from that, but this is unconfirmed.

A closeup of the second tiny tiles pathfinder.  |  Photo courtesy of LabPadre Rover 1
Ship 26's aft section, showing the external stringer band on the aft dome weld.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

The "Maybe" Stuff

There have been quite a few weird things around the production site that aren't distinctly pathfinders for the version 2 Ship, so we'll put these under their own section. Just understand that the following hardware is by no means confirmed to be related to the revised Starship.

EDome 2 Test Tank

Over the summer of 2023, SpaceX produced a second test tank to verify the stretch-formed dome design, which was originally tested on the first test tank in the series at the end of 2022.

The stretch-formed domes are bulkheads that are made of less material, have a shallower profile, and should be easier to produce. While SpaceX began pathfinding with these domes in early 2022, the Ship has not had them implemented.

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New-style dome (Left) and old-style dome (Right).  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

This test tank was produced near the time SpaceX began clearing out their nosecones from Tent 3, which may indicate that it was related to the version 2 vehicle.

Edome2.jpg
The second EDome test tank.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

It had roughly 24 internal stringers inside the tank, matching the design of the Ship's LOX tank, and also had numerous Ship components integrated on the side, such as a tank pressure inlet, a pressure vent, and a roll thruster.

This could have been pressure testing for those components, but we never got a good view of the test. Regardless, it showed that the test tank had some relation to the Starship upper stage.

Edome2Vents.jpg
Vents on the EDome tank.  | Photo courtesy of John Cargile for WAI Media

If this is accurate, it may mean that we are finally going to see the long-anticipated dome design switch, which has only been done for Super Heavy's common dome as of publishing.

Edome2Test.jpg
Second EDome tank undergoing a test on October 19th, 2023.  |  Photo courtesy of NASASpaceflight

Weird Double Barrel

Another weird component that showed up was this double barrel section with internal stringers that match the Ship's LOX tank.

While this exact double section does not exist on the Ship today, if the sections are rearranged, this could potentially be related, or it could have been a pathfinder to test something related to the build process. Either way, it's something to watch.

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The double ring barrel near the Starfactory.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

Different Weird Double Barrel

In SpaceX's recent Starship presentation, a double barrel with external stringers and a stretch-formed dome inside of it was seen inside of the Starfactory, which is not a section that currently exists on Starship or Super Heavy.

This may be some type of pathfinder, but it could also be a test article for structural testing or something else entirely. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for this reappearing some day.

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The strange double ring with a dome.  |  Photo courtesy of SpaceX

Aft Flaps

Due to Ship 32 being the final version 1 Ship to require aft flaps, it seems that an aft flap for the first version 2 Ship may already be on-site, though it's unclear if they will all be used.

They all seem to be the same size and shape, so while the perspective may hide some differences, it doesn't really seem that the aft flaps will be that different.

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Three Starship aft flaps.  |  Photo courtesy of RGV Aerial Photography

What About Super Heavy?

You may notice a trend in all of this hardware, which is that all of it seems to be related to the Ship. This begs the question: has it been purely coincidental that there has been nothing obvious spotted for a Booster? Remember, SpaceX showcased an upgrade for both stages of Starship.

We can't be certain about any of the following information, but if Starship Flight 8 is meant to feature Ship 36, the first V2 Ship, where is its flight partner?

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The actual version 1 Starship.  |  Photo courtesy of SpaceX

We've been tracking hardware beyond Booster 16, all of which only have putative assignments based on what has already been spotted and its state of completion when spotted.

For example, a Booster aft section was seen receiving its LOX landing tank just a couple of weeks ago, and this is likely for around Booster 16 at the earliest, as the aft sections for Booster 14 and 15 already have their landing tanks. The weird part is that this new section doesn't seem all that dissimilar from the existing V1 Super Heavy.

Putatively assigned B16 aft section receiving its landing tank, photographed March 26th, 2024. |  Photo courtesy of BocaChicaGal for NASASpaceflight
Putatively assigned B14 aft section (Left) and B15 aft section (Right), photographed January 5th, 2024.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for LabPadre Photo Review
B13 aft section moving to Mega Bay 1, photographed December 15th, 2023.  |  Photo courtesy of Kevin Randolph for LabPadre Photo Review

We cannot say anything for certain, but it's possible that there may be some skipped Super Heavy Boosters, or maybe the debut of the version 2 Booster will just come a little bit later.

Another possibility is that the hardware already produced for a Booster was scrapped and replaced, which also leads to tracking errors on our end. We saw the putatively assigned common dome section for Booster 15 get scrapped in January, so maybe this is related.

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Potential B15 common dome being scrapped.  |  Photo courtesy of LabPadre Rover 1

Again, this is just a highly speculative thing to think about, and it will certainly become clear as the months progress, but it does feel like something isn't lining up somewhere. With that said, there's certainly a lot of development still to look forward to, especially as SpaceX moves into the production of the flight articles and the structural qualification of the revised hardware.