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Even as it slowly heads towards the first orbital launch attempt of its Starship super heavy lift rocket, SpaceX is eager to remind everyone of the capabilities of its Falcon 9 rocket - the only medium lift launch vehicle that is capable of vertically landing and reusability. The latest launch of the Falcon 9 saw the rocket take to the skies from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of SpaceX's 23rd launch for the year and its 222nd overall launch. The mission saw the rocket's second stage launch a satellite for Intelsat's aviation network satellite and a NASA monitoring satellite attached to the Intelsat satellite.

However, yesterday afternoon SpaceX shared new visuals from the Falcon 9 second stage as it continued its journey during the Intelsat mission. At the same time, SpaceX also released a teaser of Starship's future, showing a simulation of the rocket launching in all its glory and landing on Mars - in a hint of what's to come if the highly anticipated orbital test flight is successful.

SpaceX's On A Roll As It Shares Mars Mission Teaser And New Footage From Rocket Launch

Since the Intelsat 40e mission was to a geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Falcon 9's second stage flew higher than it usually does for a SpaceX Starlink mission. In fact, the Intelsat satellite was deployed at a typical altitude of a Starlink spacecraft, which is around 550 kilometers in low Earth orbit (LEO). The higher altitude also provides excellent visuals, and SpaceX didn't disappoint as it shared a full view of the Earth's curvature behind the second stage's nozzle yesterday afternoon.

The footage was also remarkably crisp and longer than the usual visuals from orbit that SpaceX shares. It showed the Falcon 9 peacefully orbiting the Earth at an unspecified altitude, with the Sun shining on its nozzle and other portions of the Merlin 1D engine.

SpaceX's Starship simulation shows the second stage and tanker in Earth orbit for fueling. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX followed up with a simulation of Starship taking off from Earth for a future Mars mission as if one set of visuals weren't enough. The launch was pictured on a beach site, and it followed the first stage Super Heavy booster's liftoff, stage separation and landing. The visuals also showed the second stage Starship pairing with a tanker variant already in orbit to fuel itself before taking off to Mars. The Starship's second stage is designed to fuel in orbit fully, allowing SpaceX to save on payload mass at launch and increase its capacity for a Martian journey.

Interestingly though, while only one rocket takes off from Earth, the video shows multiple Starships entering the Martian atmosphere. The rockets also land in a fully developed Martian colony, and it cuts off with a scene of astronauts looking at what appears to be a domed colony.

SpaceX's Starship orbital test flight campaign is slated to kick off on the 16th of April, according to the firm's latest application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) operations advisory lists down a Super Heavy launch from the 17th of April, with these two dates not considering any application time zone differences that might be present. However, fresh notices put up by local authorities in Boca Chica still only mention "non-flight testing." On the other hand, before SpaceX flew the second stage Starship prototype, previous notices had explicitly mentioned "space flight activity."

You can take a look at the Starship simulation below: