SpaceX Takes a Step Forward, But Suffers Another Setback

SpaceX has made significant progress in its mission to revolutionize space technology, but the company's recent launch has been marred by another setback. The company successfully deployed the first third-generation Starlink satellites on Friday using an upgraded version of its prototype Starship.

Super Heavy Booster Failure

But the company suffered another failure with its Super Heavy booster during a planned simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the second time the company has had an issue with the Super Heavy booster on this V3 version of Starship. In May, on the first Starship V3 flight, SpaceX encountered a failure of the Starship's Super Heavy booster as it separated from the upper stage of the rocket.

The Launch Details

The launch came a little more than a week after SpaceX tried to conduct the 13th Starship launch. That attempt had to abort immediately after ignition due to a number of rocket engine failures. SpaceX said it replaced six engines ahead of Friday's flight to fix the problem.

During Friday's launch, the booster made it farther into its planned flight but wasn't able to properly fire up all of the engines required for its simulated landing burn. The booster exploded after a faster-than-expected impact with the water.

Starship Performs Well

On the other hand, the Starship V3 upper stage performed well during Friday's launch. The upper stage lost a rocket engine during the first V3 launch in May. That didn't happen this time around, as Starship encountered no issues on its way to deploying the new Starlinks. The Ship, as the company calls it, was able to survive the harsh forces of atmospheric reentry and perform a simulated landing in the Indian Ocean roughly one hour after liftoff.

New Starlink Satellites

The new Starlink satellites burned up in the atmosphere roughly 20 minutes after deployment, as Starship still isn't capable of reaching Earth orbit. SpaceX was able to communicate with all of them while they were in space, marking a step forward for that program, which is the only profitable part of the company's business.

Implications for Starship

The ability to deploy the more capable V3 Starlink satellites improves the economics of the company's capital-hungry space internet network. SpaceX has said launching 60 of the new satellites on Starship is a "potential twenty-fold increase" in downlink capacity deployed versus those flown by a single Falcon 9. However, it's not clear if SpaceX can realize those gains if Starship expends the Super Heavy booster rather than reusing it.