SpaceX Starship’s 13th test flight: launch time, mission goals and expectations for Mars rocket
SpaceX will launch its starship The rocket will conduct its 13th test flight on Thursday, July 16, as the company continues to test large spacecraft designed for future missions to the moon and Mars.
According to WESH, the launch window for the flight begins at 6:45 pm ET from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The window is expected to remain open for 90 minutes.
The latest test comes after space exploration technologies corp.Previous Starship flights ended with failed booster landing attempts, prompting a review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
What is SpaceX testing during Starship’s 13th flight?
SpaceX said the upcoming mission will focus on repeating several objectives from the last flight while introducing new tests.
The Super Heavy booster will attempt a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boost burn and landing burn before targeting an offshore landing site in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said.
SpaceX made hardware and software changes in response to issues discovered during the last test flight.
SpaceX said: “The upcoming flight test aims to accomplish similar goals to the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles and also carried the next-generation Starlink V3 satellite for the first time.”
The 124-meter-tall rocket will also carry an important milestone: the first deployment attempt of the next-generation Starlink V3 satellite.
Starship will deploy new Starlink V3 satellites
According to the Independent, the second stage of the Starship will carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites during the test flight. The satellites are designed to provide higher capacity than earlier Starlink versions, but are too bulky to launch using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Once deployed, the satellite will expand its solar arrays and antennas and use high-capacity laser links to connect to the satellite. Starlink Network.
The mission is considered a proof-of-concept test, with the satellite placed in a suborbital orbit and expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere approximately 20 minutes after deployment.
SpaceX is also using the mission to collect data on the Starship heat shield. Six Starlink satellites have been modified with cameras that can capture images of the spacecraft’s heat shield during flight.
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“Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras that can scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit images to operators to continue testing methods for analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to the launch site on future missions,” the company said.
Starship returns after last flight failed
The 13th test flight marked the first Starship launch since its last mission on May 22. On that flight, the Super Heavy booster encountered problems as it attempted splashdown because only one of its 33 engines fired during landing, The Independent reported.
The FAA has temporarily requested an investigation into the incident to ensure future launches comply with safety requirements. The rocket was later cleared to fly again.
SpaceX will livestream the launch on its official X account, with coverage expected to begin approximately 30 minutes before the launch window opens. The test comes as the company prepares for Starship’s eventual transition to future launch operations in Florida.
