FAA releases more information about SpaceX’s proposed Starfall recoverable capsule
Back in July 2025 it was reported that SpaceX was developing its own recoverable capsule design — dubbed Starfall and comparable in concept to Varda’s capsules.
Under the plan, internally called Starfall, SpaceX’s Starship rocket would bring products such as pharmaceutical components to space in small, uncrewed capsules, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.
Starship would then deploy the capsules, which would spend time in orbit before reentering the atmosphere, where they could be recovered back on Earth, the person added.
The FAA has now released an environmental assessment of the design that provides more information, including the first proposed demo missions. The graphic to the right is from that assessment, and provides a simplified illustration of the capsule’s size and shape.
The FAA decision approves two reentries of Starfall capsules in the Pacific Ocean about 1,300 kilometers off the coasts of California and Mexico. The capsules would launch on either Falcon 9 or Starship vehicles, going into orbit before reentry or flying a direct suborbital trajectory to the landing zone.
The capsules are disk-shaped, 0.75 meters tall and 3.1 meters in diameter at the top. The capsules have cold-gas attitude control thrusters but no other propulsion system and do not have the ability to deorbit on their own. The vehicle consists of two parts: a top plate and a heat shield. The top plate is an aluminum structure partially wrapped in an unspecified thermal protection material and weighs 1,400 kilograms. The heat shield is a carbon-fiber structure covered in thermal protection material and also contains nitrogen gas bottles used for the thrusters and other systems. It weighs about 700 kilograms.
The vehicle would slow its descent using a single main parachute, along with pilot and drogue parachutes, with the heat shield jettisoned before splashdown. The FAA documents state that SpaceX will use boats to recover all elements of the spacecraft after splashdown.
No timeline for these tests was provided. It appears SpaceX wants to manufacture and fly these in large numbers, using Starship. It also appears it would be in direct competition with Varda and a host of other startups that have raised capital and are developing their own capsules. In the U.S. Varda, Inversion Space, and Sierra Space have raised money for doing such orbital work. In Europe, The Exploration Company in France, Atmos in Germany, PLD in Spain, Genesis in Croatia, and Space Cargo in Luxembourg have also raised capital. So far, Varda is the only company to successfully fly capsules.
Because all would be depended on other rocket companies to launch their capsules, including SpaceX, Starfall raises some legitimate antitrust questions. SpaceX’s ability to undercut its rivals in this area, as both capsule and rocket provider, would be unmatched, and could easily wipe out all competition.
The competitive need for more launch providers at low cost is becoming increasingly critical.
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If SpaceX is smart, they will try and avoid certain market sectors to preclude any anti-trust efforts from a future hostile administration.
Like they appear to be doing with space habitats, leaving that segment to other parties.
I do not see any antitrust issues here. SpaceX’s recoverable capsule service would simply be a part of an offering with more complete vertical integration.
SpaceX would not be preventing other companies from providing launch services to go along with their capsule services, but SpaceX would simply be the first to do this. Given its launch efficiencies, it would be creating a likely economic/pricing advantage.
IF the powers-that-be DO happen to twist their thinking attack SpaceX on antitrust grounds, SpaceX could simply agree to provide launch services at or near what it would charge itself for its capsule launches.
I like the reentry shape. Very fluffy compared to most other vehicles I am aware of which should reduce heat shield stress per unit area. far less challenging than Dragon or Starship.
Separation of builder and operator (launch services) and , maybe operator (Starlink) could be required with transactions to be ‘at arms length” with SpaceX being able to buy launch services from ULA or Ariane Space, for example.
There are precedents. United Aircraft was broken up into operator (United Airlines) and Builder (United Aircraft = Vought, Sikorsky, Pratt and Whitney, and Hamilton Standard)/ Pullman Company was broken up into Operator (Pullman) and railcar and truck Builder (Pullman-Standard)
buyer of launch services should be Starlink
With, allegedly, no on-board de-orbit capability, the obvious question is how Starfall vehicles will get themselves out of orbit accurately enough to drop into the ocean where the recovery boat is waiting.
The at-sea recovery also looks a lot more expensive than Varda’s land-based recovery.
I think we need more info before assuming a SpaceX-will-sweep-all-competition-before-it outcome in this general market sector.
Starfall does not look like something SpaceX just decided to run up the flagpole to see who would salute. I suspect that SpaceX either already has a customer for these things or is its own customer for some purpose not yet revealed.
There is, in any case, much more to be discovered here. I hope Eric Berger is on the case.
It is a good thing “Mr. Warmth” is no longer with us–swing Elon wants to patent the hockey puck
https://tenor.com/view/don-rickles-rickles-rickles-thanks-gif-7537812482290381402
I wonder if these could be stacked together and launched on a Falcon9 by the dozen?
But since they are designed to bring cargo back from space who would they be stored on the space station and how would they be filled?
I can see a spring launch system at least being used to push it down to Earth.
Robert wrote: “Because all would be depended on other rocket companies to launch their capsules, including SpaceX, Starfall raises some legitimate antitrust questions. SpaceX’s ability to undercut its rivals in this area, as both capsule and rocket provider, would be unmatched, and could easily wipe out all competition.”
A possible problem, but I read this from the linked Space News article and thought, “suborbital is not really competition, because that supports only short-term processes, and the manufacturing would have to be completed within half an hour or so.”
But then I re-read this:
“loiter on orbit” tells me that the first quote was only for the first two test articles.
Could it be that there is currently too much potential space manufacturing to do that the current capsules (Varda being the only one now operational) that SpaceX needs to help supply the coming demand? SpaceX already does this with smallsats.
There are currently hundreds of smallsats lifted into orbit every year, but the current operational smallsat launchers are only capable of lifting a few score, or so. SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program fills the demand that is left behind by the still-growing smallsat launch industry.
Is it bad that SpaceX is such a dominant force in the space industry? No, because it provides what others do not yet provide. But then again: Yes, because competition is good for finding better efficiencies as well as expansion into new niches, and competition helps put pressure on prices.
Finally, we should consider the possibility that SpaceX’s main customers will only want these for point-to-point cargo transportation (purpose #1, five paragraphs above). Who needs to land an entire Starship to a remote locations when a few of these will suffice? Further, no one (like the army) will have to get a huge Starship back to the launch site after landing at the remote site.
Robert also wrote: “The competitive need for more launch providers at low cost is becoming increasingly critical.”
Wholehearted agreement! Demand for medium and heavier satellites is high, and the demand for launching communication constellations is growing rapidly. These are in addition to the smallsats I mentioned above. With so many investors acknowledging that space manufacturing will bring good things to life, we are going to have a great need for launch capabilities above and beyond what we have today.
It is amazing that we already have five or six times as many annual launches, worldwide, as we had
twenty years ago (2004 & 2005).
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Robert,
The buttons for bold, italics, underline, and cetera are nice features. I hope that the “link” feature works as I expect. Well, here goes!
The link feature works great, Edward.