SpaceX is set to attempt the 13th flight test of Starship on Thursday, July 23, as the company continues testing the world’s most powerful rocket after a scrubbed launch attempt last week.
Event Context
The Starlink V3 satellites are designed to improve the network’s capacity and internet speeds. As part of the test, they will extend their solar arrays and antennas and attempt to communicate with the wider Starlink constellation using high-capacity laser links before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and burning up roughly 20 minutes after deployment.
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SpaceX says it has made several hardware and software modifications after problems encountered during Flight 12.
During that mission, differences in engine startup caused the Super Heavy booster to rotate incorrectly during its flip maneuver. Five of its 33 engines also failed to relight during the boostback burn, preventing the maneuver from being completed as planned.
The company has since updated the engine startup sequence, improved engine relight hardware and refined onboard software intended to make the booster more reliable during flight.
The Starship upper stage has also received propulsion system upgrades after one of its three vacuum-optimized Raptor engines shut down about 40 seconds after stage separation during the previous mission. Although the vehicle still reached its planned suborbital trajectory, SpaceX said the changes are aimed at improving engine reliability on future flights.
What are the goals of Starship Flight 13?
The latest test is a step toward SpaceX’s long-term goal of developing a fully reusable rocket capable of supporting NASA’s Artemis Moon missions and, eventually, human missions to Mars.
Match Outlook
The launch window is scheduled to open at 5:45 pm CT (6:45 pm ET) and will remain open for 90 minutes. SpaceX said its live webcast will begin around 30 minutes before liftoff on its website and official X account. The company cautioned that the schedule could change depending on weather or technical conditions.
The Super Heavy booster will attempt a successful launch, stage separation, boostback burn and controlled landing at an offshore site in the Gulf of America. Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage is expected to deploy the satellites, restart a single Raptor engine in space and complete a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
In addition, six of the 20 Starlink satellites will carry cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield during flight. Engineers have also painted several heat shield tiles white to simulate missing tiles and test inspection techniques that could support future return-to-launch-site missions.
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“The thing that separates us from a lot of other companies is that we test fast and we test often, and that includes launches,” Tim Southerton, SpaceX’s director of Starship launch engineering, said in the company’s documentary Critical Path.
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The mission follows an aborted launch on July 16, when several engines failed to ignite during startup, triggering an automatic scrub, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
According to SpaceX, Flight 13 will revisit several objectives from the previous test while introducing new milestones, including the first deployment of 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites.
