It was the most important day for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) – commonly known as SpaceX – since its IPO: the 13th test launch of the Starship megarocket that forms the cornerstone of Elon Musk's plans for continued space launch dominance.
But it ended with a whimper and not a bang.
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As the countdown timer hit zero, after the engines had already ignited, the launch was scrubbed. That left the massive rocket – and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's grand ambitions – in limbo yet again.
Here's why this delay could cause big headaches for Musk and for SpaceX investors.
The Starship megarocket is a huge vessel, standing 407 feet tall, with its Super Heavy booster powered by 33 Raptor rockets, each capable of providing 50,000 pounds of force at liftoff.
Starship's massive size gives it a vast cargo capacity of over 100 metric tonnes (220,000 pounds). By transporting larger payloads with a single launch, Starship promises to dramatically lower the cost per ton of flying things into space.
Flight 13 was scheduled to be the second test launch of Starship's Version 3 (V3). Version 1 had six test flights in 2023-24, and Version 2 had five in 2025. The first V3 test, Flight 12, successfully launched on May 22 after a scrubbed attempt on May 21. During Flight 12, one of the launch rockets failed to ignite, and 13 of the 33 booster engines failed to relight mid-flight, resulting in loss of the booster.
As Flight 13's countdown timer hit zero on Thursday evening, at least four of Starship's Raptor engines failed to ignite. The company is replacing two of them and has said it will try again on Monday evening. The ship has remained on the launch pad with its propellant removed.
With his other company, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Musk frequently made promises and set deadlines for product launches, only to miss them repeatedly, sometimes by years. Tesla investors gave him the benefit of the doubt, and the company eventually grew to dominate the electric vehicle market.
The SpaceX investors who eagerly snapped up shares on the company's IPO date in June would likely be willing to extend Musk the same leeway… but this time, there's a literal race against the clock, and a deep-pocketed competitor nipping at SpaceX's heels.
Source: Yahoo Finance Top News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
