SpaceX calls off Starship launch in latest setback for Elon Musk

Rocket institution postpones 10th test-flight to troubleshoot contented astatine Texas motorboat site.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has called disconnected a planned trial formation of its Starship megarocket pursuing an contented astatine the motorboat site.

About 30 minutes earlier the planned liftoff astatine its Texas motorboat installation connected Sunday, SpaceX said that it was abandoning its 10th trial formation to “allow clip to troubleshoot an contented with crushed systems”.

SpaceX said it would effort the motorboat again connected Monday.

The motorboat nonaccomplishment is the latest successful a bid of botched missions by SpaceX.

Test flights of the rocket’s precocious signifier successful January, March and May ended successful mid-flight explosions, portion a “static fire” trial successful June resulted successful the conveyance exploding connected the launchpad.

Starship is designed to yet beryllium afloat reusable, but SpaceX has truthful acold been incapable to get the vehicle’s precocious signifier to present a payload to abstraction oregon instrumentality to the motorboat site.

The 403-feet (123-metre) spacecraft is cardinal to Musk’s extremity of colonising Mars, portion NASA plans to usage a customised mentation of the conveyance for its planned crewed missions to the Moon.

If SpaceX’s latest motorboat went up arsenic planned, the Starship precocious signifier would person separated from the Super Heavy booster dozens of miles successful altitude.

Super Heavy, which has returned for a landing astatine its launchpad successful elephantine mechanical arms successful past tests, would person targeted the Gulf of Mexico for a brushed h2o landing to trial a backup motor configuration.

Starship was to concisely ignite its ain engines to blast further into space, wherever it would person attempted to merchandise its archetypal batch of mock Starlink satellites and reignite an motor portion connected a suborbital way astir the planet.

If Starship’s 10th trial formation yet succeeds, SpaceX volition inactive look formidable method hurdles, from making the strategy afloat and rapidly reusable astatine debased outgo to proving it tin refuel super-cooled propellant successful orbit.