HOUSTON: A SpaceX Starship exploded during a routine test late Wednesday at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas, according to local law enforcement — marking the latest setback in Elon Musk’s ambition to make humanity a multiplanetary species.
Cameron County authorities confirmed on Facebook that Starship 36 experienced a “catastrophic failure and exploded” shortly after 11:00pm local time (0400 GMT Thursday).
Accompanying video footage showed the massive rocket still attached to the launch arm when a sudden flash ignited a towering fireball, engulfing the test platform in flames.
Musk’s Space X said the rocket was preparing for the tenth flight test when it “experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase,” without elaborating on the nature of the complication.
“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” Space X added on social media.
“There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue.”
The Starship was not scheduled for launch on Wednesday evening when the explosion occurred during a “routine static fire test,” according to the Cameron County authorities.
During a static fire, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship’s Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.
Starbase on the south Texas coast, near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk’s space project.
Megarocket
Standing 403 feet (123 metres) tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and central to Musk’s long-term vision of colonising Mars.
The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tonnes.
The latest setback follows an explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.
The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off on May 27 from the Starbase facility, but the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.
But the failures will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions.
SpaceX has been betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.
