SpaceX Pulls in Starship Flight Test 13 to Next Thursday
Perhaps you've heard that FT-13 was No Earlier Than (NET) July 25, two weeks from today, but I saw this evening that the latest schedule is next Thursday, July 16th, NET 6:45 PM EDT (2245 UTC) The launch will be from the new pad at Starbase Boca Chica, Pad 2.
The launch is being described as Suborbital on NextSpaceflight, implying that there will be a splashdown off the west coast of Australia. The mission is largely a response to the troubles encountered on FT-12. From their description of the mission.
The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time.
Watch “Critical Path”, the latest episode in the ongoing Starship series that followed SpaceX engineers and technicians through the final days before launch of the first Starship V3.
The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.
At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees. The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. After stage separation and the flip, the Super Heavy booster attempted its boostback burn. Five of its 33 engines experienced issues when attempting to re-light causing the boostback burn to end early. The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment.
As was the case on FT-12, the SuperHeavy booster is expected to hover over the Gulf of America in the vicinity of Starbase before shutting the engines and splashing into the Gulf.
An interesting topic on this launch is that this will be the first launch of Gen 3 Starlink satellites. Being Starship and SuperHeavy, it's really surprising they only intend to deploy 20 of these next generation satellites.
Starship Flight Test 12 takes to the air back on May 22nd. (Image credit: SpaceX)
German Rocket Builder sets probable August launch date
German rocket company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) lost their first vehicle almost two years ago, while preparing for its first flight.
Almost two years after an RFA One first stage burst into flames during a static fire test, German rocket-builder Rocket Factory Augsburg is preparing for a second attempt at the rocket’s inaugural flight from SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland, European Spaceflight reports. The launch window will open on August 10, the Spaceport said in its announcement.
The SaxaVord Spaceport didn't actually identify the specific operator, stating simply that it was “one of SaxaVord’s clients.” However, it did provide enough detail to identify Rocket Factory Augsburg as the unnamed customer.
Additionally, in April, Rocket Factory Augsburg announced that it was working toward a launch window opening on July 1. However, the company stressed that “there are uncertainties, and the schedule may evolve.” Now, it seems, there is less uncertainty.
In the rocket size scale, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Starship could carry the RFA One vehicle without sweating.
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