SpaceX aborts Starship launch due to engine startup issue
▼ Summary
– SpaceX aborted the Starship test flight at Starbase, Texas, during the Super Heavy booster’s engine startup sequence, scrubbing the launch.
– The countdown proceeded smoothly until the automatic abort, triggered because some engines failed to start.
– Elon Musk stated the next launch attempt likely won’t be Friday, but possibly early next week, after replacing two Raptor engines.
– The Super Heavy booster has 33 Raptor 3 engines; a live stream graphic indicated four of them never ignited during the attempted launch.
– Engineers began draining the rocket’s propellant tanks, and no new launch date was immediately announced.
SpaceX was forced to abort a planned test flight of its massive Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster on Thursday as the countdown clock reached zero at the company’s launch site in South Texas.
The launch team at Starbase, located just north of the U. S.-Mexico border, had aimed to send the more than 400-foot-tall vehicle into the sky at 5:45 p.m. local time (6:45 p.m. EDT; 22:45 UTC). Throughout the day, the countdown proceeded without major issues, culminating in the loading of over 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket.
However, as the Super Heavy booster’s engine startup sequence began, the automated systems controlling the countdown triggered an abort. SpaceX called off the launch attempt, and engineers immediately started preparations to drain the rocket’s propellant tanks. Officials did not provide an immediate timeline for the next launch attempt.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, shared an update on his social media platform X, indicating that the company may not be able to launch during the next available opportunity on Friday evening. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” Musk wrote. “Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.”
Later Thursday evening, Musk added that ground teams at Starbase will replace two of the Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster. “Most probable launch timing is early next week.”
The Super Heavy booster is equipped with 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, each capable of producing more than half a million pounds of thrust. These engines are designed to ignite in a staggered sequence after the launch pad’s water-cooled flame diverter activates, a system meant to shield the facility from the extreme heat and vibrations generated by the world’s most powerful rocket.
SpaceX officials did not specify how many engines failed to ignite during the sequence, but a graphic displayed on the company’s live video stream indicated that four of the 33 engines never started. The engines on this particular Starship and Super Heavy come from SpaceX’s third-generation Raptor 3 design. This test flight, the 13th full-scale Starship launch, is only the second to feature the upgraded Raptor 3 engine flying on SpaceX’s enhanced Starship Version 3 rocket.
(Source: Ars Technica)
