SpaceX has called off its planned 10th flight of its Starship megarocket due to the presence of anvil clouds over the launch area. These clouds pose a threat to the launch due to lightning risk.
“Launch called off for tonight due to anvil clouds over the launch site (lightning risk),” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on social media after the launch scrub. Musk was present for the launch attempt and provided an overview of Starship during the live broadcast.
This is the second time in a row this launch got called off. The Fight 10 launch was originally scheduled for Sunday, but it was called off when a ground systems’ glitch forced the company to halt the countdown plan. Soon after that, Musk clarified the cause was a liquid oxygen on the ground side, forcing the postponement.
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“Standing down from today’s flight test attempt due to weather. Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly,” SpaceX said via X on Monday evening.
“We do have a phenomenal logistics team, so we should hopefully be able to replenish prop[ellant] everything,” said SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot during live commentary, using an abbreviation for the propellant used to launch Starship. “We don’t have to refill all the water tanks because we didn’t fire off the deflector, but we’ll have to reload the prop,” he added.
SpaceX has been developing Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — for its ambitious goals like transporting people to the moon, and ultimately, Mars. The vehicle consists of two elements — a huge booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship. Both stages are made of stainless steel and are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, something that can prove crucial to cutting the cost of space travel.
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Starship flew for the first time in April 2023, and has been through nine test missions. However, these missions have been marked by turbulence. Two flights earlier this year ended in explosions within minutes, a third lost control before releasing mock satellites, and a separate booster went up in flames during a June fueling test. These setbacks have raised doubts as to whether Starship can actually achieve SpaceX’s ultimate goal.
If SpaceX manages to successfully launch Flight 10, Super Heavy will perform several in-flight experiments and then guide itself to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff. Meanwhile, Ship aims to deploy eight dummy versions of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, relight one of its six Raptor engines in space, and come down in the Indian Ocean about 66 minutes post-launch.
Earlier reports claim that SpaceX is exploring a new funding round, including the sale of shares to private investors with a target valuation near $400 billion. This would represent a substantial increase from the $350 billion valuation in December 2024 and almost double the $210 billion it was worth in mid-2023.