Starship

Venturi Astrolab plans to send a robotic version of its FLEX rover to the moon on a SpaceX Starship mission in late 2026.

The emergence of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle is designed to place 100 metric tons or more into low Earth orbit.

Stella Guillen, chief commercial officer of Isar Aerospace, believes Starship will open opportunities for larger satellites.

Starship has captured the attention of companies developing vehicles that can place one metric ton or less into orbit.

Guillen mentioned that the industry may shift to launching larger satellites due to Starship.

Marino Fragnito, senior vice president of the Vega business unit at Arianespace, believes Starship will disrupt the launch business.

Fragnito proposed that Starship could disrupt the smallsat launch market when paired with orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs).

A planned relight of Starship’s Raptor engines while in space did not occur on the 2024-03-14 flight due to a roll induced in the vehicle.

The FAA has updated SpaceX’s Starship launch license after every flight to date to reflect mission changes such as the different suborbital trajectory used on the 2024-03-14 flight.

On the 2024-03-14 launch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage performed as expected during ascent and placed the vehicle on its planned suborbital trajectory.

The FAA does not anticipate the mishap investigation into the 2024-03-14 flight to turn up major issues that could significantly delay the next Starship launch.

Starship completed hot staging successfully two minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff.

Starship lost video and telemetry about 49 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff at an altitude of 65 kilometers.

SpaceX launched Starship from its Boca Chica, Texas site.

The third flight of Starship is referred to as Integrated Flight Test (IFT) 3 or Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 3.

SpaceX reported that some tiles were seen coming off the Starship during reentry.

SpaceX is preparing to accelerate its flight schedule for Starship launches.

The first Starship flight ended four minutes after liftoff when the vehicle was detonated by a flight termination system.