Latest Developments
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 attempt ended in an ignition abort Thursday evening at Starbase, Texas, after four Raptor engines on Booster 20 failed to light at T-zero, forcing a scrub just before the vehicle’s dramatic debut carrying the first “V3” Starlink satellites. Elon Musk confirmed the engine-related fault shortly after the abort, with propellant offloaded and a new attempt expected within days. Separately, a Falcon 9 delivered 21 York Space Systems satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer from Vandenberg, marking the halfway point for that military data-relay constellation. The Starlink fleet continues its steady operational cadence with 12,552 satellites launched, 10,848 currently in orbit, and 10,832 functioning normally.
Space Safety
The Starlink conjunction and reentry threat landscape presents two significant operational concerns. A HIGH-risk conjunction is forecast on Jul 9, 2026 at 23:44 UTC between operational STARLINK-4621 and the non-operational SL-18 R/B (NORAD 26703), with a minimum range of just 11 meters and maximum collision probability of 1.0 - representing the most critical near-term threat. Supporting this elevated risk profile, seven Starlink satellites are currently tracked for imminent reentry between Jul 17-20, 2026, with decay windows ranging from 60 to 1,080 minutes; while individual reentry predictions carry standard uncertainty, the concentration of events over a four-day window underscores the active debris management challenges within the constellation.
| Risk | Starlink Sat | Other Object | Status | Min Range (km) | Rel Speed (km/s) | Max Prob | Time of Closest Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | STARLINK-4621 | SL-18 R/B | Non-operational | 0.011 | 14.173 | 1.0 | Jul 9, 23:44 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-30464 | STARLINK-36196 | Operational | 0.048 | 10.027 | 0.1285 | Jul 4, 22:40 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-5106 | STARLINK-32760 | Operational | 0.049 | 10.192 | 0.1211 | Jul 11, 06:11 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-5400 | STARLINK-5781 | Partially Operational | 0.053 | 6.407 | 0.1203 | Jul 7, 15:32 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-36967 | LEMUR-2-AFFIE-WAUWIE | Operational | 0.038 | 7.332 | 0.0733 | Jul 8, 04:03 UTC |
| Satellite | NORAD ID | Predicted Decay | Window (min) | Inclination | Lat | Lon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARLINK-3894 | 52499 | Jul 17, 07:02 UTC | 60 | 53.2° | 27.5° | 274.9° |
| STARLINK-2141 | 47731 | Jul 17, 09:19 UTC | 1080 | 53.1° | -2.6° | 34.6° |
| STARLINK-34230 | 64137 | Jul 17, 12:40 UTC | 120 | 43.0° | 40.5° | 312.2° |
| STARLINK-1788 | 46689 | Jul 18, 15:27 UTC | 1140 | 53.0° | -35.7° | 81.2° |
| STARLINK-1817 | 46715 | Jul 19, 08:01 UTC | 840 | 53.0° | 39.6° | 1.6° |
| STARLINK-2032 | 47649 | Jul 19, 22:40 UTC | 840 | 53.0° | 24.5° | 170.1° |
| STARLINK-1759 | 46340 | Jul 20, 00:47 UTC | 1080 | 53.0° | 4.2° | 255.2° |
Detailed Coverage
Booster 20’s Four-Engine No-Start Scrubs Flight 13
Starship Flight 13, set to be the vehicle’s most consequential test yet, was aborted at the last second Thursday when four of Booster 20’s Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero. Musk quickly acknowledged the anomaly publicly, and SpaceX began offloading cryogenic propellant from both stages while engineers assess the root cause. The mission was set to be historic as the first flight to deploy “V3” Starlink satellites, SpaceX’s next-generation design intended to dramatically boost per-satellite bandwidth.
NASASpaceFlight.com and Spaceflight Now both captured the abort live, noting the launch team had pushed hard for a 5:45 p.m. CDT liftoff from Pad 2 before the ignition sequence halted. SpaceX says a new attempt could come “in a few days,” pending the engine investigation.
Read the full story: Teslarati
SpaceX Confirms Engine-Related Fault, Investigation Underway
SpaceNews reports that the abort occurred after ignition had already begun on some engines, a more complex failure mode than a simple pad hold. This marks another setback in Starship’s already turbulent test campaign, raising fresh questions about Raptor reliability heading into the vehicle’s most ambitious flight profile to date, one meant to validate reusability improvements and the debut of V3 Starlink hardware.
Ars Technica notes SpaceX’s characteristically terse update - “Now offloading propellant” - leaving the timeline for a reflight uncertain as teams comb through ignition data from Booster 20.
Read the full story: SpaceNews
21 Military Satellites Reach Orbit for SDA’s Transport Layer
While Starship grabbed headlines with its abort, SpaceX quietly delivered a Falcon 9 success from Vandenberg’s Pad 4E, launching 21 York Space Systems satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer at 1:32 p.m. PDT. This launch - designated T1TL-E - is the third operational batch supporting the Pentagon’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a resilient low-Earth-orbit mesh network designed for military data relay.
With this batch in orbit, the SDA has now placed half of its planned Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation on-orbit, a step toward a fully operational tactical data network expected to reduce reliance on legacy geostationary military communications assets.
Read the full story: SpaceNews
Could Adversaries Actually Threaten Starlink?
A widely discussed Ars Technica analysis examines whether China or Russia could realistically destroy or disable the Starlink constellation, concluding that brute-force anti-satellite strikes are impractical against a mega-constellation of thousands of spacecraft. The piece instead highlights softer threats - jamming, cyberattacks, or the “boomerang” risk of debris fields that could eventually endanger an adversary’s own emerging satellite networks, referencing China’s own Starlink-like constellation now in development.
The analysis underscores growing strategic parity concerns as multiple nations race to build proliferated LEO constellations, suggesting future ASAT calculus will factor in mutual dependence on similar architectures.
Read the full story: Ars Technica
Countdown to Flight 13: Stacking and Pre-Launch Buildup
Ahead of Thursday’s abort, Space.com documented SpaceX’s stacking of Starship atop Booster 20 at Starbase, part of a methodical pre-launch buildup that included fueling tests and static assessments. The mission had been billed as critical for validating upgrades pushing toward full booster and ship reusability, alongside the debut of V3 Starlink satellite hardware.
The abort, occurring after a smooth stacking and countdown process, illustrates the unpredictability that continues to define Starship’s iterative test campaign even as SpaceX refines its ground operations.
Read the full story: Space.com
V3 Starlink Satellites Await Their Ride
Space.com’s pre-launch preview detailed what would have been the first-ever deployment of “V3” Starlink satellites, representing a major hardware evolution intended to significantly increase bandwidth and reduce latency for the broader constellation. The V3 design remains grounded following Thursday’s abort, delaying a milestone many analysts consider pivotal for Starlink’s next capacity expansion phase.
Industry watchers had been anticipating V3 telemetry data as an early indicator of how the upgraded satellites perform in their intended orbital shell, now pushed back to SpaceX’s next attempt.
Read the full story: Space.com
Constellation Status
The Starlink constellation has remained stable since the last check, maintaining its current operational status of 10,832 working satellites in orbit out of 12,552 total launched. The constellation continues to include 10,848 satellites currently in orbit, with 1,704 having decayed from their operational altitudes.
- Total Launched: 12552
- Total On Orbit: 10848
- Total Working: 10832
Track Starlink satellites in real-time: Track Starlink
Wondering about the totals? See how many Starlink satellites are in orbit, updated daily.
