SpaceX did not launch a single Falcon rocket last week

Last week featured a rare zero-launch week for SpaceX’s Falcon rocket as the company jumps back after a failed booster on March 2. SpaceX is expected to return to Falcon launches this week with the launch of two NASA payloads: SPHEREx and PUNCH.

There were plenty of other companies that didn’t launch last week, including ULA, Rocket Lab, and Blue Origin. However, SpaceX is almost never a company that goes a week without launching, without a good reason for it.

The only launch SpaceX conducted last week was a test flight of its Starship rocket out of Starbase, Texas. The flight ended well before SpaceX had hoped it would, triggering yet another mishap investigation for the development program.

However, even during Starship launch weeks, you can easily find SpaceX launching two to three Falcon 9s filled with Starlink satellites. Instead, we saw an ongoing launch of two NASA science missions and the vague “continue rocket checkouts” line in official statements.

Advertisement - scroll for more content

NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions will study two areas that always get researchers excited: the Sun’s corona and how the universe was created.

SPHEREx, Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, will map more than 450 million galaxies in the hope of better understanding the distribution of matter during the universe’s creation. PUNCH, Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, is a collection of four satellites that will study how the Sun’s corona eventually turns into the heliosphere, a bubble of charged particles that encircles the solar system.

This mission ran into several issues, leading to its delay from its original launch goal of February 28, including encapsulation issues and range availability. However, since March 4, the NASA teams have been waiting for SpaceX to be ready to launch.

After the failed landing of the Starship 12-20 booster, the FAA grounded the Falcon 9 until March 4. While NASA missions on the Falcon 9 don’t require the FAA’s approval to launch, they usually won’t launch unless absolutely necessary if the FAA has grounded its rocket.

For the rest of the week, SpaceX delayed the launch of SPEREx and PUNCH twice with similar reasons for SpaceX to conduct more vehicle tests. While this doesn’t confirm any specifics, this phrasing is usually used to indicate SpaceX has to fix some sort of issue with the rocket before launch. Many times this can be as simple as the need for a new valve or engine, but in this case, it can possibly be linked to what caused Starlink 12-20’s failed landing.

While SpaceX is hardware-rich in Starbase for its Starship launches, meaning losing hardware is expected and easily replaceable, it does not have the same methodology with its Falcon fleet of boosters. Production of the Falcon boosters has slowed, with SpaceX now relying on its existing fleet to keep its triple-digit launch cadence. A loss of a booster could mean the loss of 5 to 10 flights over the next year.

Given both coasts were quiet in the last week, SpaceX is likely waiting on the results of the SPHEREx/PUNCH before continuing with its regular launch schedule, which could mean opening the floodgates this week if the launch is successful.

SpaceX was supposed to launch the SPHEREx/PUNCH mission Monday night; however, the launch was scrubbed. This time it was due to one of the payloads; it wasn’t stated which one. SpaceX does have a Starlink launch slated for Monday as well, which could take the place of the return to flight for the Falcon 9.