SpaceX paints some Starship tiles white

SpaceX has painted several heat-shield tiles on its next Starship vehicle white ahead of the rocket’s twelfth flight test, a change the company says is tied to an in-space inspection experiment planned for the mission. (spacex.com) The company’s Flight 12 mission page says the last two Starlink simulators to be deployed during the test will scan Starship’s heat shield and send imagery to operators as SpaceX tests ways to assess whether the ship is ready for a return-to-launch-site profile on later missions. (spacelaunchnow.me) The white tiles are not described by SpaceX as a repair or a cosmetic change. (spacex.com) SpaceX says the painted tiles are meant to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test, giving the company a visible pattern that can be observed by the orbiting payloads during the mission. On May 13, French technology outlet Numerama reported that the white patches visible on Starship had drawn attention ahead of launch and linked them to a planned inspection test. SpaceX’s own mission description, published on its launch page and repeated by several launch-tracking sites quoting that text, confirms that the tile painting is part of a heat-shield imaging exercise rather than an unplanned modification. (spacex.com) Flight 12 will also test other changes to the ship’s thermal protection system. A mission description carried by launch-tracking outlets says one heat-shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure aerodynamic loads on neighboring tiles when a tile is absent, adding to a series of controlled heat-shield experiments SpaceX has carried across recent Starship tests. (spacelaunchnow.me) SpaceX has tied the inspection work to a longer-term goal of checking Starship’s condition in space before attempting more demanding recovery profiles. The company says the imaging test is intended to help develop methods for analyzing heat-shield readiness for a return to launch site on future missions, a step beyond the ocean splashdowns used in current tests. (spacex.com) The May 19 mission is also set to be the first flight of Starship V3 and the first launch from Starbase’s Pad 2, according to SpaceX and Spaceflight Now. SpaceX’s Starship V3 update describes a broad redesign of propulsion and vehicle systems, including a new Raptor startup method, larger propellant volume and changes to steering controls. (leonarddavid.com) SpaceX’s launch page says Starship’s twelfth flight test is preparing to launch as soon as Tuesday, May 19, with the window opening at 5:30 p.m. Central time from Starbase, Texas. (spacelaunchnow.me) The company says its live webcast will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, and the flight will again be conducted as a developmental test with a schedule that can change. (spacex.com) (spaceflightnow.com)