Kenneth Glad
Four of Super Heavy’s 33 engines did not start during the final countdown. SpaceX plans to replace two engines before making another attempt.
SpaceX aborted the planned thirteenth flight test of Starship on Thursday after four engines beneath its Super Heavy booster failed to ignite.
The automated system stopped the sequence about a second before liftoff at Starbase in southern Texas. Ignition had begun three seconds earlier, but computers shut down the remaining engines when the incomplete startup was detected.
Launch teams began draining methane and liquid-oxygen propellants shortly after the abort. The 90-minute window had opened at 5:45 p.m. Central Time, or 10:45 p.m. UTC, writes 20 Minutos.
Launch protections respond as designed
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said: “Some of the engines didn’t start, which caused the automatic cancellation of the launch.”
Musk later said two engines would be replaced before another attempt, which could take place the following week. The cause of the other two engines not firing was not immediately detailed.
The vehicle remained on the pad while smoke and vapour cleared around the launch tower. No flight began, making Thursday’s event an aborted attempt rather than the completion of Flight 13.
It would have been the second flight of the upgraded Starship V3 system. SpaceX developed the new configuration to improve propulsion, avionics and reliability as it works toward a fully reusable two-stage rocket.
Test carried wider objectives
The mission plan called for Starship and Super Heavy to separate after ascent. The booster was then expected to restart its engines during its return before making a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
The upper stage was carrying 20 of SpaceX’s newest experimental Starlink satellites. They were intended to communicate with spacecraft already operating in orbit, while some were expected to photograph Starship’s heat shield during the suborbital journey. Neither stage was scheduled for recovery.
NASA is monitoring Starship because SpaceX is developing a version of the spacecraft as a human lunar lander. Artemis III is intended to test one or both commercial landing systems in Earth orbit in 2027.
Under NASA’s current plans, Artemis IV is expected to become the first mission to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole. Blue Origin is also developing a separate lunar lander for a later Artemis mission under a NASA contract.
Sources: 20 minutos
