As today is January 13, 2025, SpaceX scheduled the seventh launch of Starship Mega Rocket but it’s been delayed.
During a livestream at X, Elon Musk clearly stated the seventh launch of Starship Mega Rocket in three to four days. Maybe it will be scheduled next week.
Yesterday, on January 12, 2025, SpaceX officially announced on X that they are now targeting Wednesday, January 15, 2025 for the seventh test flight of the Starship Mega Rocket.
The test flight of the Starship Mega Rocket was delayed from January 13, 2025 to January 15, 2025 due to poor weather conditions at the launch site. This was cited as the first and the main cause to delay the launch.
Moreover, some technical evaluation and additional safety are also the reason to delay the launch of the Starship Mega Rocket. These checks are the normal practices in the high stakes rocket launches.
This delay in the launch indicates that SpaceX will now attempt to fly a 120 meters tall rocket on Wednesday January 15, 2025.
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The Starship is a Mega Rocket that consists of a first stage super heavy booster and upper stage Starship spacecraft. The Starship Mega Rocket was first launched in 2023. During its first launch the rocket released 17 million pounds thrust while leaving the ground and became the most powerful rocket ever to fly.
When the rocket is considered ready to fly, NASA sets to use it for several types of missions. These missions included carrying crew and cargo to the Moon, Mars and possibly beyond place even deeper in our solar system.
The company stated that the coming test that will be held on January 15, 2025, will introduce a new generation Starship Spacecraft with great updates. It will also position 10 duplicate satellites that are made to imitate the size and weight of Starlinks satellite. This mission indicates the first time for the Starship Mega Rocket that will take and position the payloads in space. This mission indicates a huge milestone in its development as a satellite deployment vehicle.
The most important upgrade made is the remodification of the design of the power system with large tanks and new computer in order to control the Raptor Engines. During the seventh flight of Starship Mega Rocket is planning to conduct an in-space blast of a Raptor engine. SpaceX is very much hopeful to gain the certification for an orbital Starship test flight.
The powerful upgrades in the rocket also includes the plan of SpaceX’s refuelling test. This test is a huge achievement for NASA’s Artemis program. This will allow SpaceX to test the technology to build a space propellant depot.
Other changes on the Starship Mega Rocket also include modified forward flaps and new heat shield tiles merged with additional insulation under them. SpaceX will also analyze the rocket’s performance for a tower catch on flights. Earlier, in the statement Elon Musk suggested that the catch could occur on flight 8 if the upper stage successfully splashes down in the ocean during flight 7. The upper stage also launches the Starlink satellite simulators while it is in space.
To boost the speed, SpaceX will reuse a Raptor Engine on the rocket for the first time. It will also attempt to catch the booster with the tower catch arms again after skipping the catch on flight 6 due to tower damage.
