SpaceX is set to launch its eighth Starship flight test on February 28 — pending regulatory approval. This mission comes on the heels of the investigation into the seventh flight test’s anomaly, which, despite several successes, revealed critical lessons that are now driving hardware and operational upgrades.
On January 16, 2025, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 4:37 p.m. CT. The mission successfully ignited all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, completed a full-duration burn during ascent, and executed a hot-staging separation as Starship’s six Raptor engines took over from that point. The booster managed the second-ever successful catch after a flawless boostback and landing burn.
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The Ship loss mystery
Yet, about two minutes into the Starship’s upper stage burn, a flash was observed in the vehicle’s aft “attic” area — an unpressurized space between the liquid oxygen tank and the aft heatshield.
Sensors registered a pressure rise indicative of a leak, and shortly after, another flash was followed by sustained fires. These events forced the upper stage engines into controlled shutdowns and resulted in a loss of communication with the Ship roughly eight minutes and twenty seconds into flight.
The mission terminated approximately three minutes after loss of contact during descent. Post-flight analysis revealed that the Flight Termination System did correctly trigger autonomously, and the vehicle was broken apart.
SpaceX’s teams — working alongside the FAA, NASA, and the National Transportation and Safety Board — determined that an unexpectedly strong harmonic response in flight stressed the propulsion hardware beyond test conditions. This led to excessive propellant leaks in the attic area, overwhelming its venting capability and igniting sustained fires.
Harmonic response refers to how a structure reacts to repeated vibrational forces, crucial in aerospace to ensure components withstand launch and flight stresses.
The company also noted that in response to the anomaly, pre-planned safety measures ensured that all debris landed within the designated area, and recovery teams coordinated with the governments of Turks and Caicos and the United Kingdom to manage cleanup efforts. “The measures put in place ahead of launch demonstrated their ability to keep the public safe,” said SpaceX in a statement.
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Upgrades for Flight 8
In the wake of Flight 7’s setback, SpaceX has implemented a series of targeted upgrades.
Firstly, to mitigate the risk of propellant leakage and flammability, additional vents and a new purge system using gaseous nitrogen have been added. Future upgrades are expected to include the Raptor 3 engine, which, thanks to a more mature design, will reduce attic volume and minimize the number of joints susceptible to leaks.
Additionally, an extended 60-second static fire was completed using the Starship from this upcoming test flight, designated Ship 34. This firing tested multiple engine thrust levels and different configurations in the Raptor vacuum engine feedlines—efforts that led to modifications in fuel feedlines for the Vacuum version of the Raptor engines, adjustments to propellant temperatures, and the adoption of a new operating thrust target for the upcoming flight test.
On the other hand, upgrades on the Super Heavy booster now include a more powerful flight computer, improved power and network distribution, and integrated smart batteries. These enhancements are key to ensuring that the booster’s return and catch, which remain critical objectives, occur only under optimal conditions.
Additionally, SpaceX is evaluating alternative thermal protection materials, including several metallic tile configurations — one of which features active cooling — to assess their effectiveness in shielding the spacecraft. In response to hot spots identified during the sixth flight test, a segment of the tile line has been modified with a smoothed and tapered edge to improve heat dissipation.
The upper stage’s reentry trajectory is also deliberately designed to push the structural limits of its rear flaps, subjecting them to extreme aerodynamic forces at peak dynamic pressure. Meanwhile, radar sensors mounted on the launch and catch tower’s chopsticks will undergo further testing, enhancing their precision in tracking and measuring distances to a returning vehicle.
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The next flight
The upcoming flight test is set to follow a new timeline. The first part of the mission will be approximately the same. The vehicle will liftoff, experience Max Q, and shortly thereafter, at roughly T+02:32, most engines will cut off (MECO) on the Super Heavy Booster.
The Starship is expected to initiate reentry around T+47:22, then transition through its transonic phase at approximately T+01:03:05 and its subsonic phase at T+01:04:20. The vehicle will then execute a landing flip, begin its landing burn, and finally touch down at T+01:06:26.
At about T+02:40, the hot-staging maneuver will commence, igniting Starship’s six Raptor engines for stage separation. Within the next few seconds, at T+02:45, the Super Heavy booster will initiate its boostback burn, and the hot-stage ring jettison will occur at T+03:32.
The booster will then begin its landing burn at T+06:37, culminating in a tentative of catch maneuver on the Tower’s chopsticks twenty seconds later. If conditions do not meet stringent criteria — including the already-known real-time manual approval from the Flight Director — the booster will default to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship’s upper stage is slated to cut off its engines at T+08:44, setting the stage for the payload deployment demonstration scheduled for T+17:24. This demo will see four Starlink simulators released on the same suborbital trajectory of the Ship, and are expected to demise upon entry.
Later in the mission, a single Raptor engine is planned to relight in space at T+37:28— hoping to demonstrate improved in-space engine performance.
SpaceX is still waiting the regulatory approval as of the writing of this article. “SpaceX is working with the FAA to either close the mishap investigation or receive a flight safety determination to enable its next flight of Starship.”
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