SpaceX Completes 13th Starship Flight as In-Orbit Refueling Still Eludes Mars Plan
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 14
SpaceX Completes 13th Starship Flight as In-Orbit Refueling Still Eludes Mars Plan
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 14
Summary
Flight 13 on July 24 gave SpaceX a cleaner Starship V3 test: the upper stage deployed 20 next-generation Starlink satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space and reached its planned Indian Ocean splashdown.
That progress still leaves the central Mars hurdle untouched: across 13 integrated flights, no two Starships have rendezvoused, docked and transferred cryogenic propellant in orbit.
A March 2024 test moved about 5 tonnes of liquid oxygen inside a single Starship, which NASA later marked successful, but it did not test tanker launches, orbital docking or ship-to-ship fluid transfer.
NASA's inspector general said in March 2026 that large-scale vehicle-to-vehicle cryogenic transfer remains one of SpaceX's biggest Human Landing System challenges, with a demonstration slipping roughly a year from a March 2025 plan.
Starship's roughly 18 million pounds of liftoff thrust—about 2.4 times Saturn V's 7.6 million—shows scale, but Mars missions require repeated orbital refueling, rapid reuse and other capabilities beyond launch power.