Why Starship Flight 13 Aborted + Japan Flies Its Starhopper! | This Week in Spaceflight

[00:02] engine ignition, but the Japanese Star Hopper finally hops. Rocket Lab's Archimedes engine fires stunning blue flames. India gets closer to flying its crew capsule. And everyone has been testing space hardware. As always, we've

[00:14] got all that and more coming up this week in [music] Spaceflight.

[00:31] aborted flight 13. And to fill you in on all the late breaking details, I'll hand >> Thanks, Alicia. We all wanted to see a Starship launch yesterday, but sadly what we got was a Dstack and roll back following a launch abort right at T0.

[00:45] Booster 20 and ship 40 were out on pad 2 at Starbase's launch site, making their final preparations for Starship's 13th flight. This mission was expected to address the handful of issues seen on the previous flight, including the

[00:58] booster's flip maneuver after hot staging and the few Raptor relight issues encountered on both booster and ship. In the end though, it was four of booster 20's Raptor engines that led to the launch being aborted. Super Heavy

[01:10] and Starship rolled out to the pad over the preceding few days and was stacked on Wednesday evening ahead of Thursday's launch attempt. Everything appeared to major milestones taking place more or

[01:22] propellant loading and took on more than 5,000 metric tons of propellant ahead of launch. For this flight, SpaceX introduced a change in the final countdown sequence. The traditional hold at t-minus 40 seconds has now been moved

[01:36] up to t-minus 60 seconds, allowing additional time for final system preparations before liftoff. During Thursday's attempt, there was a brief automated hold at this new t-minus 60-second mark, which was cleared in

[01:48] just under a minute. With the weather, range pad, and vehicles all green, the water deluge system activated, the engines ignited, and abort. According to SpaceX's on-screen telemetry, we could see that four of booster 20's 33 engines

[02:02] failed to ignite. That alone was enough to violate one of the launch commit criteria, automatically triggering an abort. Elon Musk confirmed this just a few minutes later before adding that two of the engines would be removed and

[02:15] replaced. Since then, teams have destacked ship 40 and booster 20, and both vehicles have returned to Starbase's production site. As of publication, SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Monday, the 20th of July

[02:27] with a 90minute launch window opening at 22:45 UTC or 17:45 Central time. Here at NSF, we'll continue covering all the action over on Starbase Live 24/7. We'll

[02:39] also be posting updates across our social media channels, and we'll be live as soon as SpaceX is ready. This week, we also got a glimpse at the kind of Starship vehicle SpaceX plans to use for next year's Arteimus 3. This mission

[02:53] into low Earth orbit and docking with Blue Origins Blue Moon lander and SpaceX's Starship. NASA has released a series of renders showing what this could look like along with further details about the vehicle selected for

[03:06] that mission. In its release, NASA states that Blue Origin's test lander for Artimus 3 will incorporate crew systems, including the crew cabin, a life support system, and associated avionics. It will also carry an

[03:18] instrumented Axiom Luna suit as a mass simulator, which NASA says will provide realtime feedback on the environment inside the Blue Moon crew cabin. As for why Starship will not be carrying a crew cabin or similar hardware, NASA explains

[03:31] that the objective is to instead evaluate how the integrated Orion and Starship stack behaves once the two vehicles are docked together. That used for this mission will carry a

[03:44] docking system on its nose cone just as the future human landing system variant mission will test the control software of the integrated stack. During docked operations with Blue Moon, Orion

[03:56] spacecraft. However, when docked with Starship, control of the integrated stack will instead be handed over to Starship software. NASA therefore considers it important to validate the compatibility between two such

[04:09] fundamentally different vehicles. SpaceX also confirmed during its coverage of Starship flight 13 that the company intends to use this mission to validate in which Starship would perform the trans lunar injection burn for Orion

[04:23] system carry out that role. Aside from that, Orion will also be receiving an interesting communications upgrade for Optimus 3. During the Starship flight 13 countdown, NASA and SpaceX announced that the agency had chosen to equip the

[04:36] Optimus 3 Orion spacecraft with two Starlink laser communication terminals. SpaceX used on Crew Dragon during the Polaris Dawn and Farm 2 missions. The laser terminals will allow Orion to connect directly to the Starlink

[04:50] satellite constellation, providing gigabit speed connectivity and much faster data transfer. That should allow for significantly higher quality live video from the mission. But this won't be the first time Orion has used laser

[05:03] carried an experimental optical communications laser on Optimus 2 a few differently from the Starlink laser terminals as it communicated directly with ground stations rather than relaying through satellites. The

[05:18] technology proved extremely valuable, allowing teams on the ground to receive large amounts of data, video, and imagery from the crew that would months to transmit over conventional radio links. Of course, there's plenty

[05:31] more Starship news to cover and lots of exciting details that SpaceX revealed over the past day, but we'll save that for our next Starship update. For now, back to Alicia. So, Starship may not have flown, but

[05:44] we've got news from another vehicle that will most likely make it back to the moon before Starship makes its first lunar landing. I am, of course, talking lander. Now, if you remember, Blue Ghost

[05:56] companion in early March of last year, becoming the first fully successful commercial lander. It landed upright and made it all the way through its planned mission without issues. Firefly is now looking to follow up on that success

[06:09] with another landing, and the lander for that second mission is coming together. time-lapse of engineers assembling the lander in the clean room. Next up, they'll integrate avionics, install the engines, and mount the payloads. The

[06:22] mission's final payload also arrived at Firefly this week. It's a wireless power receiver named Lightport, developed by Montrealbased Volta Space Technologies. Hold on. Wireless power? How does that work? Volta plans a network of

[06:35] satellites called light grid that will harvest solar energy in lunar orbit, then send it down to the surface using lasers. Receivers like the light port that will be installed on Blue Ghost top deck will then provide power to whatever

[06:47] needs energy on the lunar surface. Sounds like a great way to keep cold, dark lunar nights. At least in theory. Blue Ghost is now set to demonstrate that it also works in practice. The other payloads for this

[07:00] mission arrived at Firefly prior to this. NASA provided two payloads under its commercial lunar payload services program or eclipse. First, there's the observe the universe from the moon during the lunar night and the jet

[07:13] propulsion laboratory added a communication system. There's also an Australian seismic experiment called Spider and a rover for the United Arab Emirates. Finally, the European Space Agency provided its lunar pathfinder

[07:25] communication satellite, but that one won't travel to the moon aboard Blue Ghost. Instead, it'll hitch a ride on Fireflyy's Elletra dark transfer lander and issa satellite from Earth orbit to the moon. Firefly recently

[07:39] Elletra's main barrel and the dual payload fitting, which will accommodate Blue Ghost and Lunar Pathfinder. Having verified that these structures can company will soon start assembling the Elletra for this mission. Everything

[07:52] should be coming together in the next few months as the mission, nicknamed Riders to the Dark, is set to launch a top of Falcon 9. no earlier than to reach the moon after launch, just

[08:04] like the first Blue Ghost did last year. If you followed along with Blue Ghost's first mission, you'll probably remember that it shared its ride into space with the Hakudo R mission 2 lander from Japanese company iSpace. Now,

[08:16] unfortunately, Blue Ghost success didn't wear off on Hakudo R, as instead of softly touching down, the lander crashed into the lunar surface in June 2025. Icepac's next mission was supposed to launch this year with a different type

[08:29] of lander called Apex 1.0, which was developed by iSpace's US branch. The lander was set to deliver payloads to the moon for clips, a contract that iSpace got through its partner Draper. Now, notice that I used past tense for

[08:42] announced that Draper and NASA have yeah, it's no longer happening and Apex Instead, iSpace will focus on a different lander design called Ultra,

[08:55] company's third landing attempt, now set for 2028. It also may not be the end for iSpace's involvement with Clips. After announcing its moonbased plans earlier this year, NASA launched the Clips 2.0 program to get more payloads to the

[09:09] slice of the pie and has announced that it will submit a proposal for that program. Whether they get to it or not, one thing's for sure, there will be many more lunar landings to look forward to in the coming years. In the meantime,

[09:22] why not click the subscribe button? And I believe there's a like button, too. Hey, why are we looking at Starship again? Wait, no, that isn't Starship. That's Japan's reusable vehicle experiment, or RVX for short. The

[09:36] the first engine tests in the summer of 2018 and another series of tests in 2020 and 2021. This week, RVX finally got off the ground performing its first test flight at JAX's Noshiro rocket testing center, and it looked a lot like the

[09:51] Star Hopper test that SpaceX started its Starship program with. The vehicle flew up to an altitude of 11 m and then translated sideways by about 16 m before softly touching down. The whole flight lasted roughly 40 seconds. Although it

[10:04] may look a bit like Star Hopper, it is a very, very different vehicle. First off, it's much smaller, measuring only 7 meters tall when standing on its landing legs and 1.83 m in diameter. It's absolutely dwarfed by Star Hopper. It's

[10:17] also powered by liquid hydrogen instead of methane. So, why did JAXA build this? It's a pathfinder for the creatively named Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation for Stage Tossback Operation or Kalisto for short, which is

[10:31] a joint project by Jax, the French space agency, and the German space agency DLR. This program is set to produce a small 13 meter tall reusable rocket booster that will perform 20 kilometer test hops from the Gana Space Center and hardware

[10:44] is already underway for Kalisto. Last year, DLR tested the landing legs and they're also working on the fins and fairing. The project is set to take postponed a few times and we don't really get frequent updates, so who

[10:57] knows? But at least they got some flight data in with RVX this week. A reusable rocket that we do get frequent updates about is Relativity's methane powered Terran R. The company published its monthly update this week and the main

[11:10] theme for June was testing. Starting with the reusable first stage, they the heavy lift rocket. They subsequently moved it out of the building and lifted parking lot. Following initial checkouts, Relativity started an

[11:24] extensive series of tests of the tanks under pressurized conditions. The test campaign will not only pressurize the tanks, but also test mechanical loads. Essentially, squeezing the rocket, and repeated pressure tests will validate

[11:36] long-term durability. Seems like an important test for a reusable booster. in Mississippi for testing at NASA's Stennis Space Center. Relativity is preparing its test stand and is now installing a massive flame diverter that

[11:50] surrounding test infrastructure from the rocket exhaust. They also installed an access platform. So now the test stand is getting closer to activation for the stage 2 hotfire campaign. Relativity also tests its engines at Stenis and

[12:04] reported that they completed acceptance testing for all 13 Eon R first stage engines for flight 1 and has now started acceptance testing for the flight 1 ENV engine which will power the heavy lift rocket's upper stage. Meanwhile, the

[12:17] adding tanks, installing cranes in the horizontal integration facility, and raising the lightning protection towers. The first flight is still set for later this year, and from these updates, it seems that they're making good progress,

[12:30] but there's still a lot of work to be done before they can start thinking about launching. This year might be tight, but we would love to see it. Another methane powered reusable rocket set to debut this year is Rocket Labs

[12:42] Neutron. The company recently completed a full duration burn of the vacuum optimized Archimedes engine that will power the rocket's second stage and they released the video. So, we get to marvel over some pretty blue methane flames.

[12:54] This version of the engine is about 1.2 times more powerful than the first stage times more powerful than the first stage variant and also 2.5 m taller as it has an extended nozzle. But that nozzle wasn't attached for this firing. Testing

[13:06] vacuum engines at ground level is tricky as an effect called flow separation can occur in the nozzle which can damage the engine. So instead, Rocket Lab tested a stubby version of the nozzle, which they call a stub skirt. The full nozzle will

[13:19] upper stage engine. This stage is designed to be super lightweight and will be hung inside the rocket's reusable first stage, which has an unusual design to include the payload fairing for easy reusability. It'll

[13:32] launch. With this test fire, Rocket Lab towards Neutron's first flight. Originally set for 2024, it has since year. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing, and they've lost a few parts

[13:47] this year. Hopefully, they won't have any more setbacks. Even more rockets are supposed to debut this year, and one of them is the Mora 5 from Spanish rocket builder PLLD Space. We've been following along as they've

[14:01] first flight. This week, the company announced that it has completed tank testing for both stages of this kerosene powered small sat launcher. The company has now tested the pressurization system stability under nominal conditions and

[14:14] they also validated some avionics and flight software. Additionally, they checked off testing pressurization and venting systems for both stages. Now, testing. The company is currently working on getting the hardware for the

[14:27] couple qualification articles late last year. Miora 5 is just the first orbital rocket in a line of planned rockets. The first upgrade Miora 5 block 1.2 is supposed to introduce reusability, while the planned Mora next rocket family has

[14:43] performance up to super heavy lift in expendable configuration. But before they can get to landing four booster simultaneously, they'll need to get some flight experience with Mora 5. You can count on us to check in with PLLD in

[14:56] towards that mission hopefully later this year. related testing happened this week, well, we haven't even covered all of it stories across space. Starting with India's upcoming crew capsule called

[15:11] Gagan. This week, the country's space agency ISRO announced that it had completed a series of qualification tests for this capsule. First, they tested Gagan's crew module uprighting system. Essentially, this is a ball that

[15:24] will inflate after splashdown to ensure that the capsule floats in the correct orientation with the heat shield down. These are not uncommon on crew vehicles that perform a splashdown landing. Orion has them and so did the Apollo capsules.

[15:37] ISRO verified that the system inflates correctly and in a timely manner. Another test focused on the capsule's umbilical connections. The capsule links to its service module, which it needs for most of the flight until shortly

[15:49] before re-entry through the so-called connect disconnect system. These connections enable all electrical communication between the two parts and environmental control and life support system. With its [music] test, ISRO

[16:02] verified these connections separate cleanly, allowing for a safe re-entry. After re-entry, a cover separates from the capsule to allow for main parachute deployment. The separation is done using pyrochnically actuated thrusters and two

[16:15] parachutes which strain the spacecraft structure. ISRO tested the separation loads to verify that this was all well within margins. Recently, ISRO also tested Gagan's main parachute. A total of 10 parachutes of four types will help

[16:28] splashdown. The last stage of which will happen under three main shoots like the one recently dropped from an airplane at 2.5 km. We could see all of these systems come together on the first uncrrewed orbital test flight soon as

[16:41] mission for the second half of this year. That flight will then be followed by two more uncrrewed missions before launching two astronauts on the According to the current schedule, we can expect that mission in the first

[16:55] quarter of next year, assuming everything goes to plan. Of course, NASA nuclearpowered helicopter that it plans to send to Saturn's moon Titan. The vehicle called Dragonfly is now slowly taking shape in the clean room following

[17:10] surprise surprise testing completed ahead of schedule though. During a John's Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory tested Dragonflyy's fuselage, subjecting it to vibration tests and even a test to simulate the vehicle

[17:25] sitting on Titan's surface. They also performed an unusual test for a spacecraft. Normally spacecraft need to operate in a vacuum or on a planet with a very thin atmosphere. But at Titan's surface, the atmosphere is dense and

[17:38] about 1.5 times the pressure compared to Earth. It's also ice cold, which isn't ideal for a spacecraft. So they had to test that Dragonfly structure is completely sealed and able to keep that atmosphere out. With all that testing

[17:50] complete, the team delivered the fuselage in late June ahead of schedule. spacecraft integration, installing all kinds of systems onto the vehicle, outfitting it with bulkheads, cables, and connectors. Later, the craft will

[18:03] get outfitted with its electronics, avionics, and science instruments. Dragonfly is set to launch a top of Falcon Heavy no earlier than July 2028. Next, we're heading for Venus, or at least NASA's Da Vinci probe will be. Da

[18:17] Vinci, short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging, will launch in the early 2030s. As the spacecraft descends take images and measure the atmosphere's composition. Recently, NASA tested the

[18:32] instruments by strapping them to a helicopter, which then slowly descended over a period of 40 minutes, simulating Da Vinci's plunge into Venus's atmosphere. To get an accurate simulation, they traveled to Crater

[18:44] Island in Utah, which is apparently the place on Earth most similar to Venus geologically speaking, at least. In all other ways, Venus is, of course, very Earth's twin, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide. The Venuian atmosphere

[19:00] is incredibly hot and extremely dense. Not a place where spacecraft last long. So, the planet still holds many secrets for us, but at least we're working on some missions to unravel them. Tory Bruno has been tweeting about Blue

[19:14] Ring again. After resigning as CEO from United Launch Alliance, Bruno took up a position as president of Blue Origin's National Security Group. Since then, Tori has frequently posted about his new company's Blue Ring spacecraft. Blue

[19:27] Ring is a multi-purpose spacecraft that can potentially host and deploy payloads throughout the solar system. For example, Blue has used it as the base of their Mars telecommunications orbiter proposal. The first Blue Ring is yet to

[19:40] fly, but Tori says that its main structure is currently being assembled. We didn't get to see pictures of that specific spacecraft, but he did share some photos of a static test vehicle being tested. Earlier this year, Tori

[19:52] shared Blue Ring renders with a new addition, a robotic arm called Orca. would be cool to have one on the first Blue Ring, and they got to work. We even got to see a video of the first prototype flight arm in action. Tori

[20:06] hopefully Blue will have a rocket and a launchpad ready in time to make that happen. We also had some launches this week, so let's take a look at what went up into space in your weekly space traffic report provided by Next Space

[20:20] Flight. The main event this week was the Soyuse MS29 mission lifting off from Bikenor in Kazakhstan on July 14th. On board were Rosscosmos cosminauts Pota Dubrov and Anna Kikina as well as NASA astronaut Anil Menon. Dubrov served as

[20:35] mission commander on his second space flight and Kika also logged her second space flight previously flying on Dragon for the Crew 5 mission while Menan flew for the first time this week. The trio arrived at the International Space

[20:47] Station a few hours after launch docking to the Pashall module. They're set to about 8 months with their return scheduled in April of next year. Over in the States, SpaceX launched four Falcon 9 this week. Three carried Starlink

[21:01] satellites, adding 80 spacecraft to the internet constellation. The other Falcon 9 mission lifted off from Vandenberg to loft the Trench 1 transport layer E mission for the US Space Forces Space Development Agency. The mission's 29

[21:13] satellites are part of the proliferated warf fighter space architecture, which offers a broad range of defense capabilities to the United States. This transport layer, which is a constellation supporting many kinds of

[21:26] military communications. Next week, we'll have three more Falcon 9 launches. Two of them will fly, you guessed it, Starlink missions, both lifting off from California. Over in Florida, Falcon 9 will launch the MRVME mission for North

[21:39] of Grin subsidiary Space Logistics. The MEP part of that abbreviation stands for mission extension pod, three of which will be launched this week, which can be installed onto a spacecraft by the mission robotic vehicle or the MRV while

[21:52] in orbit. This is the first MRV to launch, which if resupplied with MEPs, can install up to 30 of them onto geostationary satellites. One part of this mission that won't see an extension is the first stage as booster B1069 will

[22:06] fly its 32nd and final mission in expendable configuration. SpaceX might also give Starship flight 13 another go next week, but that all depends on what they find when investigating the abort. Meanwhile, in India, Skyroot is

[22:20] targeting the debut of its Vicram 1 launcher for July 18th. The launch dubbed Mission Agaman Hindi for arrival also marks the country's first private orbital launch attempt. A Gravity 1 or Yin Lee 1 from Chinese company Orion

[22:34] Space is sitting on the deck of the Dongfang Hong Tiangong barge awaiting its sea-based launch later next week. From dry land, China is currently planning to launch a Chongjang 3B from Shi Chong and a Chong Jong 8A from Wong.

[22:48] schedule is always subject to change. So we recommend downloading our free Next Space Flight app or keep an eye on the website for the latest updates. [music] And that's your weekly update of spaceflight news. I'm Alicia Seagull for

[23:01] NSF and we'll see you all again next week to recap this week in spaceflight.