GoKawiil
Tech News
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on a mission that reached orbit for the first time, successfully deploying an advanced batch of Starlink satellites. During ascent, one of the vehicle's engines shut down earlier than planned, and SpaceX cut the flight short as a precaution.
SpaceX's Starship, launched atop its Super Heavy booster, reached low-Earth orbit for the first time on its 14th flight, despite losing one of six Raptor engines mid-mission. The company shortened the planned orbital stay from about 10 hours to roughly three before Starship reentered and landed in the Pacific Ocean. During the flight, SpaceX deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit and confirmed contact with all of them, while the Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico for eventual recovery.
SpaceX's Starship completed its first orbital flight, deploying 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites despite an early shutdown of one Raptor 3 engine during ascent. After assessing the upper stage's condition at its first orbital checkpoint, SpaceX opted to cut the mission short, moving up the deorbit burn to about 11 a.m. EDT with splashdown planned in the Northern Pacific, rather than waiting out the full 7.5-hour orbital window.
SpaceX's Starship rocket achieved Earth orbit for the first time in a launch from South Texas, despite losing one of six Raptor engines on its upper stage shortly after separation. The company briefly called off the mission before resuming, and the Ship stage went on to deploy all 26 planned third-generation Starlink satellites. SpaceX is still deciding whether to complete a full set of orbits or bring the upper stage down early, while the Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the launch site.
SpaceX is attempting to deploy its first-generation Starlink V3 satellites aboard Starship, marking the rocket's first orbital satellite deployment attempt. The launch comes as Amazon's rival Leo constellation has stalled at 396 satellites, with no successful deployment in twelve weeks, largely due to grounded launch partners ULA's Vulcan and Blue Origin's New Glenn.
SpaceX plans to launch its Starship rocket from Starbase, Texas, on Monday morning, aiming for the vehicle's first orbital flight after 13 prior suborbital tests. The FAA authorized the launch and reentry operations on Sept. 26, and SpaceX intends to deploy 26 new Starlink V3 satellites during the mission.
Dr. Tony Phillips of spaceweather.com has built a method to track Earth's upper atmosphere by analyzing orbital decay data from SpaceX's Starlink satellites, along with constellations from Planet Labs, Amazon Kuiper, and Eutelsat OneWeb. He uses the 'B-star' drag term buried in Space Force tracking data to measure how much the atmosphere expands in response to solar activity, finding a roughly two-day lag between solar radio flux changes and atmospheric response.
SpaceX confirmed it has finished a full launch rehearsal for Starship ahead of its 14th test flight, targeted for September 28 with an 8:15AM Eastern launch window. The rehearsal involved fueling the rocket, running through countdown procedures and simulating a scrub before draining propellant, all without liftoff.
A fire broke out overnight at a ground station in Wola Krobowska, near Warsaw, that handles internet traffic for Poland and Ukraine, including Starlink connections. Polish deputy prime minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the blaze at the facility, owned by state operator Exatel, appears to have been set deliberately, and police and internal security agents were sent to investigate. Gawkowski said the incident bears the hallmarks of Russian sabotage, though the investigation is ongoing.
Researchers are monitoring the atmospheric drag experienced by SpaceX's more than 11,000 Starlink satellites to calculate a daily 'sink rate,' the altitude a typical satellite at 480 km would lose in one day without thruster corrections. In 2026 that figure has swung from 19.7 meters per day during quiet conditions to 127.6 meters per day during the year's largest geomagnetic storm in January.
A new European report examines the growing risk of orbital collisions as active satellites have surged from roughly 1,000 in 2013 to about 17,000 today, according to CelesTrak. SpaceX's Starlink constellation accounts for most of this growth with around 11,000 satellites, while Amazon, Chinese internet constellations, and planned orbital data centers are set to add many more.
Amazon announced a partnership with Uzbek ISP Uztelecom to deploy its Leo satellite internet service in remote and hard-to-reach areas of Uzbekistan, including mountainous and desert regions where cabled infrastructure is difficult to install. The service will supplement Uztelecom's existing network, which already reaches 96 percent of communities, though Leo has not yet launched publicly and is still being tested internally and with select enterprise customers ahead of a rollout later this year.