SpaceX says they've made several upgrades to Starship's heatshield for test flight 14:
The upgrades include additional retention mechanisms added to tiles in areas deemed to be at highest risk of falling off during ascent, addressing recently discovered areas that offer flow paths behind tiles for plasma, and flying multiple areas with a curved tile design that has shown the ability to reduce heating in the gaps between tiles. Lastly, two tiles recovered from Ship 40 are planned to be reflown on Ship 41, marking the first tile reuse for Starship.
Looking forward to the launch!
SpaceX has just officially announced that they are targeting Tuesday, September 22nd at 8:15 AM ET for their 14th Starship test flight.
The upcoming flight is planned to be the first to send Starship into orbit around Earth, and will also mark the first time SplaceX plans to deploy Starlink V3 satellites into the constellation, delivering a payload that will dramatically expand connectivity speeds and reliability around the world.
Starship’s initial orbital mission is expected to fly at an altitude approximately 275 km above Earth and complete approximately six orbits around the planet over the course of a nearly 10-hour flight, with splashdown targeted in the Pacific Ocean to the west of Chile.
The booster’s primary test objective on Flight 14 will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.