The 13 th flight test of Space X's "Starship" has been terminated, and Musk predicts that it will try again early next week!
Financial News Agency, July 17 (local time) On Thursday, local time, when SpaceX's "Starship" rocket conducted its 13th flight test in Texas, the abort procedure was triggered at the last moment before takeoff, causing the mission to be delayed by at least 24 hours. However, the company's CEO Musk later predicted that he would try again within a few days, "probably early next week." SpaceX shares fell more than 3% in after-hours trading, falling further below the IPO price of $135. The stock has fallen for five consecutive days.
Financial News Agency, July 17 (local time) On Thursday, local time, during the 13th flight test of SpaceX's "Starship" rocket in Texas, the abort procedure was triggered at the last moment before takeoff, causing the mission to be delayed by at least 24 hours. However, the company's CEO Musk later predicted that he would try again within a few days, "probably early next week." SpaceX shares fell more than 3% in after-hours trading, falling further below the IPO price of $135. The stock has fallen for five consecutive days. It is reported that the launch abort occurred less than a second before the "Starship" was scheduled to lift off from SpaceX's company base "Starbase" in southern Texas at 6:45 pm Eastern Time. The rocket engine stalled shortly after ignition. "When we were igniting the Raptor engine, we did trigger the booster's pause command, causing the launch to be aborted," SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said in the company's live broadcast. "We will take some time to thoroughly investigate what triggered the abort when the booster was igniting in preparation for launch, and then determine the next course of action." Musk said that SpaceX’s next launch attempt is expected to take place within a few days. He posted on X: "Part of the engine failed to start, triggering the automatic launch abort procedure." Shortly afterwards, he further stated that the most likely launch time for the Starship is early next week. "To ensure a smooth flight, both Raptor engines will be removed and replaced. The most likely launch time is early next week," he wrote. SpaceX's "Starship" is a fully reusable super-heavy launch vehicle system, consisting of a "super-heavy" booster and a "Starship" spacecraft on top, with a total height of about 120 meters. It is designed to be used for deep space exploration missions such as the moon and Mars. Compared with the V2 version, the third-generation "Starship" is about 5 feet taller, has a larger fuel capacity, and has a low-Earth orbit payload of 100 tons, nearly three times the V2's 35 tons. The spacecraft is equipped with an upgraded Raptor V3 engine and is equipped with a docking adapter for fuel transfer in space. This is the key node that SpaceX is trying to break through this year. This test is the second test flight of the Starship V3 version, aiming to promote the giant rocket to gradually enter normal operation. The first flight of V3, the 12th flight test, was conducted on May 22 this year. Although it was mostly successful, there are still some problems. Huot said at the time that there were problems with the propellant lines connected to the Starship spacecraft, problems with sensors on the rocket tower, and apparent problems with the water sprinkler system. SpaceX previously said that as part of Thursday's mission, Starship plans to transport 20 fully functional next-generation Starlink satellites, the first time this type of satellite has entered space. SpaceX plans to use starships to build a giant constellation of 100,000 Starlink V3 satellites in low Earth orbit. Investors are paying close attention to this Starship test flight because this giant rocket is crucial for SpaceX to expand the scale of its Starlink satellite Internet service and complete the test flight of the Artemis program with NASA, which aims to achieve NASA's next moon landing goal. Starlink is also SpaceX’s largest source of revenue and its only profitable business. Since its listing last month, SpaceX's stock price has experienced a "roller coaster market" - first soaring and then plummeting, falling below the IPO price of $135 on Wednesday. (