SpaceX has scheduled the thirteenth test flight of Starship for Thursday, July 16 at 00:45 Spanish mainland time. The world's largest rocket will carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites for the first time.
The space giant of Elon Musk is back in action. SpaceX has confirmed that Starship, the largest rocket ever built, will conduct its thirteenth test flight this Thursday, July 16. The launch window, lasting 90 minutes, will open at 17:45 Central Time (00:45 on Friday in Spanish mainland time).
The live broadcast will start about 30 minutes before liftoff and can be followed on both the SpaceX website and its X (Twitter) account. As is usual with this type of test, the date and time may be subject to last-minute changes.
Flight objectives: improve reliability and deploy satellites
This new test comes just over a month after the debut of Starship V3 and the Super Heavy. The objectives are similar to the previous flight, but with significant technical improvements. The Super Heavy booster must successfully complete liftoff, ascent, stage separation, return ignition, and landing in the Gulf of America.
To achieve this, SpaceX has introduced changes in both hardware and software. In flight 12, slight discrepancies in the ignition sequence caused a 90-degree deviation in the booster’s spin. This sequence has been redesigned to better tolerate timing variations and ensure more precise orientation.
Additionally, five of the 33 Super Heavy engines failed to restart during the return manoeuvre. Structural changes have been implemented to increase the reliability of the reignition, along with improvements in alert and abort systems tailored for a multi-engine environment.
Starship will carry Starlink V3 satellites for the first time
The major novelty of this flight is that Starship will carry 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, designed to increase network capacity and connection speed. These satellites will follow a suborbital trajectory and will disintegrate upon re-entering the atmosphere about 20 minutes after deployment.
Six of them include camera systems to inspect Starship's thermal shield and send images to ground teams. The aim is to advance the preparation of the spacecraft for future returns to the launch point. Some tiles of the shield have been painted white to simulate absences and facilitate their identification during tests.
Regarding the upper stage, the objectives include igniting a Raptor engine in space and completing a controlled descent re-entry to land in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX has made adjustments to the propulsion system to address the engine failure observed in the previous flight, when Starship lost one of its three vacuum-optimized Raptor engines about 40 seconds after separation.
Despite this, the spacecraft managed to maintain its intended suborbital trajectory. Since then, operational and hardware changes have been introduced to address the causes of the problem, with plans to continue improving engine reliability in future versions.
For those interested in space exploration and technology, this flight represents another step towards the total reusability of the rocket and the mass deployment of satellites. If all goes as planned, Starship could be one step closer to achieving its ambitious goal: to take humans to the Moon and Mars. Meanwhile, the Starlink V3 satellites promise to enhance global connectivity, even if this test is just a trial.
The event is scheduled for the early hours of Friday, July 17 at 00:45 Spanish mainland time. We must stay alert for possible last-minute changes, but all signs point to seeing the giant soar through the Texas skies once again.
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