Musk also offered a preliminary explanation for Flight 14’s engine shutdown, saying the cause was “basically a failure in the engine computer software” that did not appear to affect the other engine computers. The Sept. 28 mission reached orbit and deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites, but SpaceX shortened it to about three hours from a planned 10 out of caution over the engine issue. Both the booster and ship splashed down rather than returning to the tower.
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas expects Flight 15 to carry at least a similar satellite load and potentially more, with Starship able to accommodate up to 60 V3 satellites. Each has 10 times the downlink capacity of the V2 Mini satellites launched on Falcon 9, making the next mission equivalent to one to two or more months of Falcon 9 launches, he estimated. Jonas maintained his $300 SpaceX price target.