Latest Developments
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 was aborted at the last second Thursday when four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-0, forcing a full propellant offload and pushing the next attempt to Monday, July 20. Elon Musk confirmed the engine ignition failure shortly after the scrub, though the exact root cause remains under review. Meanwhile, the Starlink constellation continues its steady expansion with 12,552 satellites launched to date, 10,848 currently in orbit, and 10,832 operational. Separately, coverage of SpaceX’s anticipated IPO highlights the company’s growing pains as it searches for more manufacturing and launch capacity to match its ambitions.
Space Safety
The Starlink conjunction threat environment shows one HIGH risk event in early July 2026, with STARLINK-4621 facing a critical close approach to the non-operational SL-18 R/B on Jul 9, 2026 at 23:44 UTC with a minimum range of just 11 meters. Beyond this critical conjunction, three MODERATE risk events are forecast involving operational or partially operational Starlink assets, while five additional LOW risk conjunctions round out the current watch list. Concurrently, seven Starlink satellites are predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between Jul 18-21, 2026, with decay windows ranging from 180 to 1,140 minutes, all associated with routine end-of-life operations across the 53-degree inclination shell.
| 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 | Thu, 09 Jul 2026 23:44:34 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-30464 | STARLINK-36196 | Operational | 0.048 | 10.027 | 0.1285 | Sat, 04 Jul 2026 22:40:45 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-5106 | STARLINK-32760 | Operational | 0.049 | 10.192 | 0.1211 | Sat, 11 Jul 2026 06:11:09 UTC |
| MODERATE | STARLINK-5400 | STARLINK-5781 | Partially Operational | 0.053 | 6.407 | 0.1203 | Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:32:44 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-36967 | LEMUR-2-AFFIE-WAUWIE | Operational | 0.038 | 7.332 | 0.0733 | Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:03:02 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-36907 | KSM1-C | Operational | 0.040 | 4.967 | 0.0711 | Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:51:12 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-36714 | SL-12 R/B(AUX MOTOR) | Non-operational | 0.040 | 6.645 | 0.0646 | Sat, 11 Jul 2026 05:50:58 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-30140 | STARLINK-30878 | Partially Operational | 0.082 | 1.317 | 0.0588 | Fri, 10 Jul 2026 06:36:15 UTC |
| LOW | STARLINK-4723 | SJ-7 | Operational | 0.039 | 12.622 | 0.0523 | Sun, 05 Jul 2026 08:21:42 UTC |
| Satellite | NORAD ID | Predicted Decay | Window (min) | Inclination | Lat | Lon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARLINK-1817 | 46715 | Jul 18, 18:25 UTC | 180 | 53.0° | 27.4° | 90.5° |
| STARLINK-1788 | 46689 | Jul 19, 08:03 UTC | 420 | 53.0° | 33.9° | 250.5° |
| STARLINK-2032 | 47649 | Jul 19, 17:27 UTC | 480 | 53.0° | -7.5° | 55.7° |
| STARLINK-1759 | 46340 | Jul 20, 01:44 UTC | 840 | 53.0° | 36.4° | 97.4° |
| STARLINK-1679 | 46557 | Jul 21, 02:27 UTC | 1140 | 53.0° | -52.5° | 124.4° |
| STARLINK-3573 | 51794 | Jul 21, 06:31 UTC | 1140 | 53.2° | -50.6° | 329.6° |
| STARLINK-2128 | 47404 | Jul 21, 14:06 UTC | 1080 | 53.0° | -46.2° | 222.8° |
Detailed Coverage
Four Raptor Engines Fail to Ignite, Scrubbing Starship 13
SpaceX’s thirteenth Starship test flight was aborted at T-zero Thursday when four Raptor engines on the vehicle failed to ignite, according to Elon Musk. The failure triggered an automatic abort sequence just before liftoff, and SpaceX began offloading cryogenic propellant from the stacked vehicle shortly afterward. This marks one of the more significant pad-level anomalies in the Starship test campaign, raising questions about engine reliability ahead of future flights.
Read the full story: Teslarati
New Target Date Set: Starship 13 to Launch Monday
Following Thursday’s scrub, SpaceX has announced a new target launch window for Starship Flight 13: Monday, July 20, with the window opening at 6:45 p.m. ET / 5:45 p.m. CT. This will be the first attempt to relaunch the vehicle since the engine ignition failure grounded the previous try. Engineers are expected to have used the intervening days to inspect and clear the affected Raptor engines.
Read the full story: Teslarati
SpaceX Confirms Abort Cause, Details Still Emerging
SpaceNews reports that SpaceX aborted the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt on July 16 after some of the vehicle’s engines failed to ignite at the critical T-0 moment. The company has not yet released a full technical breakdown of which specific engines failed or why, but the abort underscores the complexity of coordinating dozens of Raptor engines across Starship’s booster and upper stage.
Read the full story: SpaceNews
Ars Technica: “Next Launch Attempt Hopefully in a Few Days”
Ars Technica’s coverage of the scrub notes SpaceX’s own characteristically understated response: “Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.” The report frames the incident within the broader pattern of Starship’s iterative test philosophy, where hardware-rich testing and rapid turnarounds are prioritized over exhaustive pre-flight guarantees.
Read the full story: Ars Technica
Video Captures Dramatic Last-Second Abort
Space.com’s video coverage captured the tense final seconds before Thursday’s abort, showing the ignition sequence halting abruptly as the failed Raptor engines were detected. The outlet notes it remains unclear exactly when SpaceX will attempt the next launch, though the company’s subsequent announcement of a July 20 target has since answered that question.
Read the full story: Space.com
SpaceX’s Growth Bottleneck: Space, Not Ambition
A SpaceNews analysis tied to the company’s anticipated IPO argues that SpaceX’s biggest constraint isn’t capital or demand but physical space to build and launch. The piece frames the IPO as a milestone moment where the decades-long vision of interplanetary civilization becomes a mainstream capital markets story, even as the company scrambles for manufacturing and launch-site capacity to keep pace with Starship and Starlink production goals.
Read the full story: SpaceNews
Constellation Status
No changes have occurred in the Starlink constellation since the last check. The constellation currently maintains 12,552 total satellites launched, with 10,848 in orbit, 10,832 of which are operational, and 1,704 that have decayed.
- 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.
