SpaceX Aborts Starship Test Flight After Multiple Raptor Engines Fail to Ignite

SpaceX halted a test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday after several engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite during the final seconds of the countdown at the company's South Texas spaceport.

The launch team at Starbase, located just north of the US-Mexico border, had targeted a 5:45 pm local time liftoff for the more than 400-foot-tall, two-stage vehicle. The countdown had proceeded smoothly throughout the day, including the successful loading of more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants into the rocket.

Automatic Abort During Engine Startup

As the countdown reached zero, the computer systems managing the launch detected a problem during the Super Heavy booster's engine startup sequence and automatically triggered an abort. SpaceX confirmed the scrub and engineers immediately began the process of draining the rocket's propellant tanks. Officials did not immediately provide a timeline for the next launch attempt.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, took to his social media platform X to explain what happened. He wrote that some of the engines did not start, triggering an automatic launch abort. Musk noted that the company was offloading propellant and expressed hope for a new attempt within a few days, while acknowledging that the next available opportunity on Friday evening might not be feasible.

Engine Replacement Underway

Later on Thursday evening, Musk provided an update on the recovery plan. Ground teams at Starbase will replace two of the Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, he said. Musk indicated that the most probable timing for the next launch attempt 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. Under normal operations, these engines ignite in a staggered sequence following the activation of the launch pad's water-cooled flame diverter, a system designed to shield the launch facility from the intense heat and vibrations generated during liftoff of the world's most powerful rocket.

Third-Generation Raptor Technology

SpaceX did not officially disclose how many engines failed to start during the ignition sequence. However, a graphic displayed on the company's live video stream indicated that four of the 33 Raptor engines never ignited.

The engines installed on this Starship and Super Heavy vehicle come from SpaceX's third-generation Raptor design. This test flight, the 13th full-scale Starship launch, marks only the second mission to fly with the Raptor 3 engine aboard the upgraded Starship Version 3 rocket configuration.

The scrub highlights the challenges of igniting dozens of engines simultaneously on the world's most powerful rocket. Each Raptor engine must start reliably within a tightly choreographed sequence, and the automated abort system functioned to prevent a liftoff with engines that had not ignited.

As SpaceX's engineering teams work to replace the affected engines and prepare the vehicle for another attempt, the space community will be watching closely to see whether the next countdown goes the distance. If you found this coverage helpful, share this article with others following the Starship program and join the conversation about the future of spaceflight.

Source: Ars Technica