SpaceX has cancelled today’s launch attempt. Boca Chica Village resident Mary @BocaChicaGirl confirms that no evacuation will be taking place, therefore no flight test.

The sun has risen over Boca Chica, Texas. We’re now less than two hours away from the launch window opening and the weather is looking good.

If Starship SN15 does lift-off today, it at least won’t be hidden by fog like its predecessor Starship SN11.

Looking ahead at the hourly weather forecast, it looks like much of the same for the rest of the day. There are a few scattered thunderstorms that could disrupt the tail end of the launch window, but hopefully Starship will have already launched and landed by then.

Today’s launch comes just days after a week-long exercise, undertaken by Nasa, the conclusion of which was that humanity lacks the technology to be able to stop a massive asteroid causing untold damage on the planet.

In a tweet, Mr Musk said that the findings showed “One of many reasons why we need larger & more advanced rockets!”

He didn’t mention SpaceX generlaly or Starship in particular, but he has repeatedly talked of the importance of the rockets for humanity.

Cameron County has updated its website overnight to include road closure notices for today and tomorrow.

The good news it it’s a big eight-hour launch window today. The not-so-good news is that it’s going to be a late one, especially for anyone in Europe.

The window opens at midday local time, which is 7pm BST. SpaceX then has until 8pm local time to get Starship SN15 off the ground.

SpaceX has left it late before in previous high-altitude flight tests of its Starship prototypes, with one taking place with less than an hour left in the launch window. We have at least another eight hours to wait to find out.

There will be no Starship SN15 flight test today, after the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) was removed for Monday.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website, TFRs are in place for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cameron County is yet to update its website with road closure notices but these can be posted relatively last minute.

Unusually for a weekend, SpaceX has issued an evacuation alert notice for today. It warns that “space flight activities” between 5am and 7pm could pose a danger to local residents of Boca Chica Village.

For example, a malfunction of some kind could create an “overpressure event” that leads to broken windows. It is the same wording that was used in an alert notice ahead of a Starship SN15 static fire test earlier this week.

There are currently no road closures in place around the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, suggesting that whatever testing is going on is not a flight test.

We’ll let you know if this changes, but as things stand we are expecting a fresh launch attempt as early as Monday.

Cameron County has just updated its website, cancelling the road closures that were in place today.

No reason has been given, and there’s been no official word from SpaceX, but that signals that today’s Starship SN15 launch is off.

Cameron County does not authorise launches over the weekend, so the next opportunity will likely be on Monday.

We’ll bring you any updates if the situation changes, but otherwise we’ll be back on Monday. Thanks for joining us, and hopefully see you then!

Starship SN15 launch scrubbed.

All four high-altitude flight tests of Starship craft have ended in explosions, with only one - Starship SN10 - actually managing to stick the landing (before exploding on the landing pad eight minutes later).

The tests last roughly six minutes from lift off to landing, and according to SpaceX Starship should be “powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude.”

Starship SN15 should then perform “a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent”.

This looks something like a belly-flop in practice, and should be followed by a complex landing flip manoeuvre powered by one or two of the Raptor engines that will take the craft steadily to the ground.

Hopefully it won’t look like this:

But instead more like this:

One of the main fundamentals for the launch to proceed is the evacuation of Boca Chica Village, which is yet to happen.

These can be issued at very late notice, and are necessary to protect residents from falling debris, or even broken windows caused by explosions.

The final factor potentially holding back today’s attempt is the weather. It’s looking very overcast at the moment, and there is a storm front not too far away.

Poor visibility is not enough to hold back the launch - as evidenced by the fog-shrouded Starship SN11 test - however lightning or heavy wind and rain could scupper plans for the launch.

It is currently forecast to be dry over Boca Chica, Texas for the next six hours, but that could change. Here’s the current weather radar: