SpaceX Teases Biggest Starship Upgrade For Hot Rocket Separation In Test Flight 2

wccftech.com:

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

The major upgrade to SpaceX's Starship rocket before it can take flight again is a new hot staging mechanism that will see the second stage fire its engines to separate from the first stage Starship Super Heavy rocket booster. SpaceX is rapidly progressing with testing the first-stage booster for preparations leading to the second orbital test flight (or the integrated flight test or IFT as it's known otherwise).

These have seen the booster make its way to the rebuilt launch pad for a tanking test without the mechanism that will diver the second stage's thrust away from the top of the first stage during hot staging. The piece of equipment SpaceX calls the 'hot stage load head' has been spotted at the firm's production facilities in Texas by dedicated observers. The item's design reveals several clues regarding its performance, with most of the load head being built from components of scrapped Super Heavy and upper-stage Starship rockets.

Courtesy of some great photography by Starship Gazer, we can confirm that a portion of SpaceX's first test item for the Starship Super Heavy booster hot staging upgrade has finished fabrication. The hot stage load head uses several items from previous Starship boosters, such as the clamps that were already part of a previous booster and the top and bottom rings that have been cut off from both a booster and the upper stage Starship.

So far, SpaceX has cut off the forward dome section of a decommission booster and joined a vent on its top. This vent will prove crucial in ensuring that the hot staging test is a success and that the thrust from the upper