Starship test flight to carry working Starlink V3 satellites
SpaceX’s next Starship test could launch Thursday with 20 Starlink V3 satellites aboard for a deployment and laser-link trial.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
SpaceX is preparing another test flight of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster, with liftoff possible as soon as Thursday, Ars Technica reported. The flight is set to include working Starlink V3 satellites in Starship’s cargo bay, giving engineers a more direct test of the vehicle’s satellite deployment system.
According to Ars Technica, the launch window is scheduled to open at 5:45 p.m. CDT, or 22:45 UTC. Much of the roughly hour-long mission is expected to resemble Starship’s previous flight in May, but the payload plan marks a change from earlier deployment testing.
SpaceX previously used mass-and-size simulators to test the mechanism intended to release the company’s next-generation Starlink broadband satellites, Ars Technica reported. For this flight, technicians have loaded 20 Starlink V3 satellites into Starship’s deployer.
The deployer uses pulleys and cables to push satellites out one at a time through an opening along the side of the spacecraft, according to Ars Technica. The setup is meant to demonstrate how Starship could place stacks of larger Starlink satellites into orbit on future missions.
Ars Technica reported that the satellites aboard this flight are not intended to join SpaceX’s operational Starlink network. Instead, engineers plan to try short laser communication links between the Starlink V3 satellites and other spacecraft already operating in low-Earth orbit.
If those links work, the test would show that the newer Starlink V3 spacecraft can communicate with SpaceX’s earlier Starlink satellites, according to Ars Technica. That would validate interoperability between generations of the company’s broadband constellation hardware.
The mission will be Starship’s 13th full-scale test flight, Ars Technica reported. It will also be the second flight using SpaceX’s newest version of Starship.
Starship pairs the upper-stage spacecraft with the Super Heavy booster. SpaceX has been using a series of test flights to evaluate the launch system, with each mission adding or repeating objectives tied to ascent, vehicle operation and payload handling, according to the details reported by Ars Technica.
The planned use of functioning Starlink V3 satellites makes this flight more than a repeat of the May mission. It gives SpaceX a chance to test the spacecraft’s cargo hardware with real satellites while also checking whether the next Starlink design can exchange data with spacecraft already in orbit.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.