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SpaceX has revealed the massive grid fins through which it will catch its future Starship Super Heavy rocket boosters. Starship is the world’s largest rocket under development and the only vehicle designed to be caught by the launch tower. In a social media post earlier today, SpaceX revealed that the new grid fins will power the next-generation Super Heavy booster and feature several upgrades to improve the rocket’s performance.
SpaceX Redesigns Starship Super Heavy Grid Fins For Fuel Efficiency & Reusability
So far in 2025, SpaceX has tested the second-generation Starship upper stage ship and stuck with the first-generation Super Heavy booster. The booster has proven to be quite reliable during the tests, after SpaceX managed to iron out earlier kinks with its engines and stage separation. The firm has also caught the booster three times, but it struggled with the rocket on Starship’s latest test flight when the booster failed to softly splash down in the ocean.
During the test, SpaceX also tried to fly the booster during reentry with a high angle of attack to reduce air friction and save propellant. This test, it seems, was to design newer grid fins. In a social media post earlier, SpaceX revealed the first redesign of its Starship grid fins. Grid fins are quite close to SpaceX’s operations, as they are also one of the key reasons the firm is able to propulsively land its Falcon 9 rocket boosters.
SpaceX revealed the first grid fin redesign for the next-generation Starship Super Heavy booster today. It outlined that the grid fins are 50% larger and stronger than their predecessors. As a result, they allow the firm to use three instead of four fins for vehicle control and enable the Starship Super Heavy booster to return to Earth with a higher angle of attack.
These new fins will also be responsible for catching the Super Heavy booster with the launch pad. Like the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX will also reuse the Starship booster by catching it with the launch tower and eventually simply refueling the rocket and flying it again. According to SpaceX, designers placed a new catch point and lowered the fins’ location on the booster to enable a tower catch. Additionally, the components responsible for controlling the fins, i.e., their shafts, actuators and other structures, will now be placed inside the booster’s fuel tank.
However, the new fins could be used on the third-generation Super Heavy booster as Elon Musk shared a render of the rocket with the new fins and confirmed that it was the third-generation Starship. SpaceX is yet to fly Starship Flight 10, with footage from local media showing the upper stage ship back at the launch site for engine tests. SpaceX ran an engine pump test earlier today before preparing the ship for its return to the building facilities.
