SpaceX Starship Grounded During US Test Flight Investigation

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket has been grounded by the US while the cause of one of its most recent test flights is investigated.

Following its launch from Texas on Thursday, the rocket’s upper stage saw a stunning disintegration over the Caribbean, causing airline planes to change their path to escape falling debris.

The FAA said it was confirming claims of property damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands in collaboration with SpaceX and other authorities. Injury reports were nonexistent.

Elon Musk’s business has been instructed to conduct a “mishap” inquiry, and the regulator will examine the results before determining whether Starship may resume flight.

Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2025

The FAA acknowledged that it had set up a “debris response area” to temporarily slow down or prevent planes from departing from their departure points outside the area where debris was falling.

It further stated that while being held outside the impacted area, a number of planes requested to reroute because of low fuel levels.

Musk’s plans to colonise Mars depend on Starship, the largest and most potent rocket ever constructed.

Thursday’s uncrewed launch was the first time a taller, improved version of the rocket was used in Starship’s seventh test mission.

SpaceX described the Starship upper stage as a “new generation ship with significant upgrades” prior to the test, stating that it was two meters (6.56 feet) taller than earlier iterations.

About an hour after taking off from Boca Chica, Texas, it was scheduled to conduct a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

As scheduled, the top stage of the Starship system separated from its Super Heavy booster almost four minutes after the system’s liftoff at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT).

On a live video, however, SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot announced that mission crews were no longer in connection with the ship.

Ground control crews erupted in cheers when the Super Heavy booster successfully returned to its launchpad around seven minutes after liftoff as scheduled.

SpaceX later confirmed the upper stage had undergone “rapid, unscheduled disassembly.”

In a post on his social media platform X, Musk said “preliminary indications” were that the problem was linked to an “oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.”

Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.

Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2025

The billionaire added that “nothing so far suggests pushing the next launch past next month.”.

According to the corporation, SpaceX’s 123-meter (403-foot)-tall Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are designed to be completely reusable.

For its Artemis missions to the Moon, NASA intends to employ a modified rocket as a manned lunar lander.

Musk envisions Starship making lengthy journeys to Mars and back in the far future, roughly nine months each way.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, supported the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, which made its inaugural flight just hours before the Starship test launch on Thursday.

For Bezos and his business, which has spent years reaching the point of launching a rocket into orbit, it was a significant advancement.

Both Musk and Bezos aspire to control the market for spacecraft.

 

BBC