SpaceX prepares Starship Flight 13 test and rolls out new Starlink V5 antenna

SpaceX has scheduled the thirteenth test flight of its Starship vehicle for the night of 16‑17 July from Starbase, Texas. The launch window opens at 00:45 CET (19:45 BRT) and will last 90 minutes. Modifications to the Super Heavy booster and the Starship stage address the 90‑degree orientation error and engine‑restart failures that plagued Flight 12. The mission will again attempt a controlled splash‑down of the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and the ship in the Indian Ocean, while testing new heat‑shield tiles and a revised engine‑start sequence. Twenty operational Starlink V3 satellites will be deployed, six of them equipped with cameras to image the vehicle’s thermal protection.

In parallel, SpaceX announced the Starlink V5 residential antenna. The new dish is about 20 % smaller (384 × 306 × 34 mm), weighs 1.1 kg (versus 2.9 kg for V4) and consumes only 35‑50 W of power. It offers peak download speeds of up to 375 Mbps and is compatible with existing Starlink routers, but it is not designed for use while in motion. Initial availability is limited to the United States, with broader rollout planned as production ramps up.

SpaceX also continued its high‑cadence Starlink launches, sending 27 satellites from Vandenberg and 29 from Cape Canaveral on 13‑14 July, bringing the constellation to more than 10,700 spacecraft. The company reported that its Starlink fleet performed over 355 000 collision‑avoidance maneuvers in the past year, reflecting the growing density of low‑Earth‑orbit assets.