# Starship Reusability Production Workflow

How SpaceX's Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage are built, flown, caught and reflown, from the launch pad to a ship splashdown in the Indian Ocean\.

By Prachi

Topic: Art, Music & Film

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/TfW58p6hrdNm)

## Transcript

### 1. Setup · Bible lock, working IDs and tag key

The Bible file was not available to this workflow, so the asset and shot IDs below are working IDs \(WA\-, WS\-, WR\-\)\. Before generating, map each one to the Bible's asset ID, scene number, palette and spec sheet, and reorder shots to the Bible's scene list; where they differ, the Bible wins\. Tags: \[S\#\] sourced fact; \[ESTIMATE\] approximate value; \[TARGET\] planned, not yet achieved; \[DERIVED\] calculated from sourced values; \[ARTISTIC\] creative choice, not a claim\.

Workflow source register, renumber to the Bible's \[S\#\] list: S1 Wikipedia 'SpaceX Starship'; S2 Space\.com, Flight 5 catch; S3 CNN, Flight 7; S4 NASASpaceflight, Flight 11; S5 NASASpaceflight, Flight 12\.

### 2. Step 1 · Global style block \(paste before every prompt\)

STYLE: photoreal documentary 3D render, physically based materials, full\-frame cinema look, 24 fps, 2\.39:1 master with 16:9 safe area \[ARTISTIC\]\. Subject: SpaceX Starship upper stage and Super Heavy booster, both 9 m diameter \[S1\], stainless steel skin built from 1\.83 m rings \[S1\], ship heat shield of black hexagonal tiles \[S1\]\. Working palette, replace with the Bible's values: stainless \#B9BEC4, tile black \#141517, dusk sky \#0B1220, horizon amber \#E8A15A, plume core \#FFD9A0 \[ARTISTIC\]\. No captions or overlay text\.

Keep this block identical in every asset and shot prompt\. Change one value only when the Bible's style sheet gives it, and log the change\.

### 3. Step 2 · WA\-01 Super Heavy booster asset prompt

PROMPT: hero 3D model of the SpaceX Super Heavy booster, Block 2 configuration \[S1\] unless the Bible names another block\. Bare stainless cylinder, 9 m diameter, about 71 m tall \[S1\], ring seams every 1\.83 m \[S1\]\. Four grid fins near the top \(three on Block 3\) \[S1\] with catch hardpoints at the grid\-fin area \[S1\]; vented hot\-stage ring on top \[S1\]\. Aft: 33 Raptor engines, 13 inner gimballed and 20 outer fixed \[S1\]\. Neutral studio HDRI, turntable at 0/90/180/270 degrees, 8K PBR textures, real\-world scale in metres\.

NEGATIVE: Falcon 9, landing legs, white paint, black interstage, fins at the base, any engine count other than 33, mixed\-block features\. Light aft scorch only on the flown variant WA\-01F \[ARTISTIC\]\.

### 4. Step 3 · WA\-02 Starship upper stage asset prompt

PROMPT: hero 3D model of the SpaceX Starship upper stage, Block 2 \[S1\]: 9 m stainless cylinder about 52\.1 m tall \[S1\] with an ogive nose \[ESTIMATE, visual\]\. About 18,000 black hexagonal heat\-shield tiles \[S1\] cover the windward half and nose, leeward half bare stainless \[ESTIMATE, visual\]\. Two forward and two aft flaps, tiled on the windward face \[ESTIMATE, visual\]\. Aft: six Raptors, three sea\-level and three vacuum\-optimised RVac \[S1\]\. Turntable at 0/90/180/270 degrees, 8K PBR, tile rows aligned to ring seams \[ARTISTIC\]\.

NEGATIVE: wings, landing legs, all\-black or all\-silver body, tiles on the leeward side, windows, cabin interior\. No ship has been caught by the tower in sources read: never present a ship catch as fact\.

### 5. Step 4 · WA\-03 Raptor engine cluster asset prompt

PROMPT: close\-up asset set of Raptor methane and liquid\-oxygen engines \[S1\]\. Variant A, booster aft: 33 bells, 20 fixed in the outer ring and 13 gimballed inside it \[S1\], split 3 centre and 10 middle \[ESTIMATE\], viewed from below with heat\-shield plating between bells\. Variant B, ship aft: three sea\-level bells at the centre and three wider RVac bells outboard \[S1\]\. Use Raptor 3 for Block 3 scenes \[S5\] and the earlier Raptor for Block 1\-2\. Heat\-tinted nozzle extensions, 8K PBR\.

NEGATIVE: Merlin engines, octaweb, single large bell, engine count changes between shots\. Keep bell spacing identical to WA\-01 and WA\-02 so close\-ups cut cleanly with wide shots\.

### 6. Step 5 · WA\-04 launch tower and chopsticks asset prompt

PROMPT: Starbase launch tower, dark charcoal steel lattice, with two catch arms \('chopsticks'\) that close on the booster's hardpoints at the grid\-fin area \[S1\], plus a ship quick\-disconnect arm above them \[ARTISTIC placement, verify\]\. Variant Pad 1: orbital launch mount on six legs \[S5\]\. Variant Pad 2: flame trench and no legs, first used on Flight 12 \[S5\]\. Wet concrete apron, cable trays, deluge piping, sodium pad lights \[ARTISTIC\]\. Real\-world scale, 8K PBR, turntable plus a 45\-degree overhead\.

Match the pad variant to each scene's flight\. NEGATIVE: Falcon 9 strongback, transporter\-erector, landing pad X, gantry walkways around the ship\.

### 7. Step 6 · WA\-05 Falcon 9 asset prompt \(comparison scene only\)

PROMPT: Falcon 9 first stage for the Bible's comparison scene only, landing legs deployed, at true relative scale beside WA\-01\. Take every Falcon 9 dimension and marking from the Bible's comparison spec sheet; this workflow adds no Falcon 9 numbers\. Same lighting rig and material quality as WA\-01 so the comparison is visually fair \[ARTISTIC\]\. Recovery contrast to show: Falcon 9 lands on legs; Super Heavy is caught by the tower arms \[S1\]\.

Use WA\-05 in WS\-08 only\. Never place it on the Starbase pad, in a Starship shot, or in the 9:16 Reel unless the Bible's Reel section includes the comparison\.

### 8. Step 7 · Asset continuity lock

Lock before any shot: one master file per working ID in metres, Y\-up, origin at the base centreline\. Keep one material library \(stainless, tile black, scorch, soot\) and reuse it on every asset; never regenerate a material per shot\. Log seed, model, lens and HDRI for every render\. Flown variants WA\-01F and WA\-02F copy the clean masters and add scorch, oxidation and missing\-tile patches \[ARTISTIC\]; they are never separately generated geometry\.

One block per scene\. Block 1 and Block 2 stacks are about 121\.3 m and 123\.1 m \[S1\]; Block 3 heights conflict within S1, so use the Bible's value and flag it\.

### 9. Shot WS\-01 · Pad establishing: stack on the mount

PROMPT: cinematic 3D shot at dusk, Gulf\-coast launch site \[ARTISTIC\]\. Full stack, WA\-02 on WA\-01, on the launch mount beside tower WA\-04, vapour venting at the booster base \[ARTISTIC\]\. CAMERA: 50 mm, slow 8 s push\-in from 600 m to 350 m at 2 m height, slight upward tilt \[ARTISTIC\]\. LIGHT: setting sun 8 degrees above the horizon from camera right, warm rim on stainless, tiles stay near\-black\. TRANSITION: hard cut on a vent puff\.

NEGATIVE: crowds, signage, extra towers, Falcon 9, lens flare across tiles\. CONTINUITY: grid\-fin and flap orientation match the WA\-01 and WA\-02 turntables\.

### 10. Shot WS\-02 · Liftoff on 33 Raptors

PROMPT: liftoff\. CAMERA: low angle from the pad perimeter, 24 mm \[ARTISTIC\]\. All 33 booster Raptors \[S1\] ignite in a staggered ripple; exhaust with a bright core and shock diamonds fading to orange \[ARTISTIC\]; a dense steam cloud rolls outward\. LIGHT: plume as key, dusk sky fill \[ARTISTIC\]\. The stack clears the tower; the camera tilts up 40 degrees to follow, 180\-degree shutter, mild heat shimmer \[ARTISTIC\]\. TRANSITION: whip\-tilt into the sky, match\-cut to WS\-03\.

Use the Pad 1 or Pad 2 variant of WA\-04 that matches the Bible's flight\. NEGATIVE: engine\-out flicker unless the Bible scene specifies it, Falcon 9 plume, solid boosters\.

### 11. Shot WS\-03 · Hot staging

PROMPT: hot staging at high altitude\. CAMERA: 85 mm long\-lens chase from a parallel position \[ARTISTIC\]\. The booster throttles down to its inner engines while the ship's six Raptors ignite above the vented hot\-stage ring \[S1\]; exhaust jets out of the ring vents \[ARTISTIC\] and the ship pulls away upward\. LIGHT: sky grades from black to a thin blue limb, hard sunlight from frame left \[ARTISTIC\]\. 3 s at 50% speed, then ramp to real time\. TRANSITION: the camera stays with the booster\.

The hot\-stage ring sits on top of the booster, not on the ship \[S1\]\. NEGATIVE: cold separation, fairings, Falcon 9 interstage\.

### 12. Shot WS\-04 · Boostback and descent

PROMPT: Super Heavy flips and fires a boostback burn toward the launch site \[S1\], grid fins deployed \[S1\]; the ship exits frame\. CAMERA: 135 mm tracking orbit, 30\-degree arc over 6 s \[ARTISTIC\]\. LIGHT: high sun, plume glow on stainless, cloud deck below\. Descent follows with grid fins steering and the landing burn; take the engine sequence from the Bible \(Flight 11 tested 13, then 5, then 3 engines \[S4\]\)\. TRANSITION: 12\-frame dissolve into WS\-05\.

Boostback is not the landing burn\. Flight 12's Booster 19 was lost after a failed boostback \[S5\]: do not use that flight for a successful\-return shot\.

### 13. Shot WS\-05 · Booster catch \(achieved\)

PROMPT: the tower's chopsticks close on the descending Super Heavy at its catch hardpoints \[S1\]; engines cut off as the arms take the load\. This is a completed event: first booster catch on Flight 5, 13 Oct 2024 \[S2\]; second on Flight 7, 16 Jan 2025 \[S3\]\. CAMERA: 35 mm locked\-off from 400 m at dusk, then a 70 mm reverse on the arms \[ARTISTIC\]\. LIGHT: engine glow under\-lights the steel, sodium pad lights \[ARTISTIC\]\. TRANSITION: hold 1 s on the settled booster, cut\.

Booster catch only, never a ship catch\. Flight 7's ship was lost \[S3\]\. Flight 11's reflown booster made a soft Gulf splashdown, not a catch \[S4\]\.

### 14. Shot WS\-06 · Ship reentry on the tile shield

PROMPT: Starship WA\-02 reentering belly\-first, the windward black tile shield \[S1\] wrapped in orange\-pink plasma \[ARTISTIC\], forward and aft flaps trimming attitude\. CAMERA: 200 mm virtual chase from leeward\-aft, slow roll drift, plasma flicker \[ARTISTIC\]\. LIGHT: plasma as key, Earth limb below\. Tile state per the Bible: Flight 11 flew with intentionally missing or reconfigured tiles \[S4\]; show patches only for that flight\. TRANSITION: plasma flash to white, into WS\-07\.

NEGATIVE: tiles on the leeward side, flames on the leeward stainless, wings, a capsule, reentry nose\-first\.

### 15. Shot WS\-07 · Ship splashdown \(achieved recovery state\)

PROMPT: the ship descends to a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, as on Flight 11 \[S4\] and Flight 12 \[S5\]\. Final flip and landing\-burn staging as the Bible specifies \[ARTISTIC, verify\]\. CAMERA: 24 mm from buoy height, about 60 m away \[ARTISTIC\]; the plume hits the water and a steam ring spreads\. LIGHT: pre\-dawn blue with the plume as key \[ARTISTIC\]\. TRANSITION: hard cut to black, 6 frames\.

NEGATIVE: ship caught by the tower, landing legs, landing on a pad or drone ship, calm water without plume disturbance\. Splashdown is the achieved recovery in sources read; ship catch, reflight and rapid reuse are \[TARGET\]\.

### 16. Shot WS\-08 · Falcon 9 and Starship reuse comparison

PROMPT: the only Falcon 9 appearance\. Matched\-scale split screen: Falcon 9 WA\-05 landing on deployed legs on the left, Super Heavy WA\-01 held by the tower chopsticks on the right \[S1\]\[S2\]\. CAMERA: matched 50 mm locked\-off frames, aligned horizons, 4 s \[ARTISTIC\]\. LIGHT: identical dusk key on both halves for a fair comparison \[ARTISTIC\]\. Use only the Bible's comparison figures; this workflow adds none\. TRANSITION: wipe from the centre seam\.

Keep WA\-05 at true relative scale from the Bible's spec sheet\. NEGATIVE: Falcon Heavy, drone\-ship names, Starship on legs\.

### 17. Shot WS\-09 · Reuse targets, shown as planned

PROMPT: a speculative sequence of the ship returning to the tower for a catch, rapid reflight and orbital propellant transfer, all \[TARGET\] and not achieved in sources read\. Render it in a distinct previs grade, desaturated and cooler with 10% grain, so it cannot be mistaken for flight footage \[ARTISTIC\]\. CAMERA: slow 50 mm crane\-up from the pad to the tower arms\. LIGHT: flat overcast key, no plume glow \[ARTISTIC\]\. Narration or lower\-third in the edit must say 'planned'\. TRANSITION: fade to the end card\.

Never cut WS\-09 directly against achieved\-event shots without the grade change\. NEGATIVE: realistic flight grade, mission patches, dates\.

### 18. Master camera, lighting, transitions and negatives

Apply to every shot: lenses 24\-200 mm with physically plausible chase positions \[ARTISTIC\]\. Lighting: one key \(sun or plume\), sky fill and a stainless rim; tiles stay near\-black\. Cut on motion or flash peaks; at most one dissolve per sequence\. MASTER NEGATIVE: Falcon 9 outside WS\-08, landing legs on Starship or Super Heavy, wings, white paint, wrong engine or grid\-fin counts, ship caught by the tower, crowds, text, watermarks, cartoon style, warped tiles\.

Append the master negative after each shot's own negative\. Keep the camera log \(lens, height, distance, move\) per shot for continuity\.

### 19. 9:16 Reel workflow \(separate edit\)

Build the Reel as its own edit, not a crop of the master: 1080x1920, 30 fps, 20\-30 s \[ARTISTIC\]\. Re\-render WS\-01, WS\-02, WS\-05 and WS\-07 framed vertically, vehicle centred, top 12% and bottom 20% kept clear for platform UI \[ARTISTIC\]\. Working order, map to the Bible's Reel section: WR\-01 WS\-01 prompt, tilt from engines to nose; WR\-02 WS\-02 prompt; WR\-03 WS\-05 booster catch \[S2\]; WR\-04 WS\-07 splashdown \[S4\]; WR\-05 planned targets card \[TARGET\]\. Same assets, palette and seeds as the master\.

Reel suffix for every prompt: 'vertical 9:16 composition, subject centred, tall headroom, no letterbox'\. Add to negatives: 'horizontal composition, cropped nose, cropped engines'\.

### 20. Final factual and visual quality checks

Factual: every claim carries one tag and each \[S\#\] matches the register; booster catches on Flights 5 and 7 shown as achieved \[S2\]\[S3\]; ship catch, full ship reuse, orbital refuelling and rapid reflight only as \[TARGET\]; one block per scene with matching engine and grid\-fin counts \[S1\]\. Visual: identical stainless and tile materials across shots; 33 and 6 engines where framed; palette within tolerance; Falcon 9 only in WS\-08; 9:16 safe zones respected; no text or watermark artefacts\.

Log every conflict between this workflow and the Bible; the Bible's values win\. Re\-check post\-Flight 12 status before release: later flights were not reviewed here\.