SpaceX completed the 13th test flight of its Starship rocket on Friday, successfully deploying a new generation of Starlink satellites. While the mission achieved its primary deployment goals, the Super Heavy booster experienced a failure during a planned simulated landing maneuver in the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship V3 Upper Stage Performance
The Starship upper stage, referred to by the company as the Ship, performed as intended during the flight. It successfully reached space and deployed the third-generation Starlink satellites before executing a simulated reentry and landing in the Indian Ocean.
Unlike previous test flights, the Ship remained intact after tipping over into the water. This allowed the company to utilize a drone to inspect the condition of the heat shield tiles on the vehicle’s underside.
Super Heavy Booster Landing Failure
The Super Heavy booster encountered technical difficulties during its attempt to land in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the booster traveled further into its flight path than in previous attempts, it failed to ignite the necessary engines required for the landing burn. The vehicle subsequently exploded upon impacting the water at a higher velocity than anticipated.
This mission followed a launch attempt one week prior that was aborted immediately after ignition due to engine issues. SpaceX reported that it replaced six engines on the rocket before the successful Friday launch.
Starlink V3 Satellite Performance
The deployed V3 Starlink satellites burned up in the atmosphere approximately 20 minutes after release, as the current Starship configuration cannot reach Earth orbit. Despite this, the company confirmed it maintained communication with the satellites while they were in space.
SpaceX has stated that these new satellites offer a potential twenty-fold increase in downlink capacity compared to those deployed by the Falcon 9 rocket. The company noted that the long-term progress and cost-efficiency of the Starlink network depend on achieving full reusability for the Starship system.
