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SpaceX scrubbed the launch of Starship/Super Heavy from Boca Chica just as the Super Heavy booster was about to ignite its 33 engines for liftoff. There was no immediate word about what issue triggered the abort.
Flight 13 was to have been the second flight of the third version of Starship/Super Heavy, which stands more than 400-feet tall on the launch pad when stacked.
With the previous Starship launch, on May 22, the attempt to bring booster B19 in for a controlled landing in the Gulf did not succeed, due to a loss of power. According to the results of a FAA-mandated mishap investigation, conducted by SpaceX and overseen by the FAA, the most likely cause was heat damage to the booster’s propulsion system and “erroneous engine alarm system settings.”
“SpaceX identified four corrective actions, including vehicle hardware and software configuration updates to prevent a reoccurrence of the event,” the agency said.
The mishap investigation closed on July 13, clearing the way for Thursday’s suborbital launch.
“There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight,” SpaceX announced on its website.
The company’s goals for Flight 13 were similar to those of previous Starship test flights, Rather than deploying mock Starlink satellites, however, this time Starship S40 wwas planned to deploy 20 actual Starlink V3 satellites, according to SpaceX.
“The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to (burn up) upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment,” the company said.
Six of the satellites were equipped with cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit the imagery to flight operators to continue testing methods for analyzing the readiness of the vehicle’s heat shield in preparation for eventually landing Starships back at the launch pad after flight.
The company was also planning to relight a single Starship engine in space, a test Starship S39 was forced to abort on May 22 after it lost an engine, though the ship still managed a soft landing in the Indian Ocean before tipping over and exploding.
“There have also been several modifications to Starship’s propulsion system to address the engine-out issue experienced on the previous flight,” SpaceX said.