SpaceX announces that the starship will conduct its 14th test flight on September 22. This mission will attempt for the first time to send the upper stage into Earth orbit and deploy 26 third-generation Starlink satellites, marking the beginning of the project's approach to the actual commercial launch phase.
On September 22, the 14th test flight was conducted.
According to the arrangements disclosed in SpaceX, the launch window will open at 7:15 a.m. on September 22nd, Central Time, and will last for 75 minutes. During this mission, the company plans to deploy the first batch of third-generation Starlink satellites into its existing satellite network.
- Launch date is September 22nd.
- The launch window lasts for 75 minutes.
- This time, 26 V3 Starlink will be deployed.
Entering orbit becomes the next hurdle.
In the previous 13th test flight, the upper stage of the starship did not enter orbit, but it completed a relatively stable flight and landed in the Indian Ocean according to the simulated procedure. SpaceX The upper stage was subsequently recovered, and based on this, the design of the heat shield was adjusted.
SpaceX has invested billions of dollars in the Starship project and plans to gradually replace Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy with Starships in the future. Musk previously stated that this is contingent on Starships being able to achieve multiple stable flights per week.
This time, no recovery action will be tested.
This test flight will not attempt to capture the upper stage of the starship using a launch tower. Musk recently stated that an explosion at this stage would be a too great setback for the company. Therefore, this mission will only test orbit insertion and will not proceed with more aggressive recovery procedures.
SpaceX This time, the Super Heavy boosters will not be recycled either. The company stated that in response to the issues identified during the previous round of test flights, they have made new modifications to both the hardware and software of the boosters to improve the re-ignition performance of the engines after separation.
Second Starship Test Flight After Listing
This is the second starship test flight for SpaceX since its launch in June of this year. During the mission in July, the company released its third-generation Starlink satellite for the first time, but at that time it was mainly used to verify deployment capabilities; the satellite was subsequently burned up in the atmosphere along with the spacecraft.
If this mission is successfully completed, the starship will for the first time deliver a valid payload into orbit. For SpaceX, this is not only a technical milestone but also related to its subsequent commercial launch schedule and the rocket system update plan.
