SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket again on July 24, carrying a batch of next-generation Starlink internet satellites while hitting another snag with the vehicle's booster.
According to Engadget, this was the 13th Starship flight test, and the rocket carried 20 of Starlink's V3 satellites as its payload. TechCrunch reports it was the second flight of the upgraded Starship V3 design, and that the company "ticked off a few more boxes" during the mission.
But the flight was not flawless. TechCrunch says SpaceX "appears to have had another issue re-lighting the booster's rocket engines," marking another booster failure on the program.
The launch also carried added significance for the business side of Elon Musk's company. According to CNBC, this was SpaceX's first Starship test flight since the company's IPO last month, putting the high-profile — and still experimental — program under fresh public-market scrutiny.
Starship is central to two of SpaceX's biggest ambitions: deploying larger, more capable Starlink satellites to expand its global internet service, and eventually flying deeper into space. The V3 Starlink satellites represent the next generation of that broadband constellation, and getting them to orbit at scale depends on Starship working reliably.
Repeated booster issues underline how much engineering remains before Starship becomes the dependable workhorse SpaceX envisions. The booster is designed to be recovered and reused, so problems relighting its engines strike at the core of the rocket's cost-saving promise.
Why it matters: Starship is the vehicle SpaceX is betting on to scale up Starlink and its wider space plans, and now — as a newly public company — every stumble and success plays out in front of investors as well as engineers.