SpaceX’s Starship Suffers Second Explosion in Uncrewed Flight Test, Investigation Underway

SpaceX’s ambitious Starship program faced another setback on Thursday night as its latest uncrewed flight test ended in an explosion. This marks the second such incident this year, raising questions about the timeline and future of the project, which aims to revolutionize space travel and enable missions to the Moon and Mars.

The launch, which took place at 6:30 p.m. EST from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in southern Texas, involved the full stack of the Starship vehicle – the 165-foot Starship spacecraft atop the 232-foot Super Heavy rocket booster, totaling 400 feet. Just over nine minutes into the flight, communication with the Starship vehicle was lost, culminating in what SpaceX euphemistically termed a "rapid unscheduled disassembly," essentially an explosion that scattered debris across the sky.

While the Starship itself met a fiery end, the Super Heavy rocket booster achieved a significant milestone by successfully returning to its launch site, marking only the third successful landing of this crucial component. Despite the overall loss of the Starship vehicle, this successful booster return underscores the iterative progress being made in the program.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, downplayed the event, characterizing it as a "minor setback" in a post on X. He added, "Progress is measured by time. The next ship will be ready in four to six weeks." However, this optimistic outlook belies the complexities and challenges inherent in developing such a groundbreaking spacecraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated a mishap investigation into the explosion. This investigation will involve a thorough examination of the event to determine the root cause of the failure. SpaceX will be required to identify the specific factors that led to the explosion and propose corrective actions to prevent similar incidents in the future. The FAA’s involvement highlights the regulatory oversight and safety considerations that govern spaceflight activities.

The failed flight test was initially slated for the previous week, but SpaceX had to delay the launch pending approval from the FAA, highlighting the stringent regulatory process SpaceX needs to work within. The flight profile for Thursday’s test involved the Super Heavy booster returning to Starbase, while the Starship spacecraft was intended to soar over the Gulf of America – referred to in the article as formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico due to a brief name change earlier this year – and ultimately splash down in the Indian Ocean.

Preliminary data suggests that an "energetic event" in the aft section of the Starship vehicle triggered the cascade of failures. This event reportedly resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines and a subsequent communication breakdown, ultimately leading to the explosion. This is reminiscent of a similar incident that occurred on January 16, when a Starship flight test ended in an almost identical explosion. In that instance, mission controllers lost contact with the spacecraft eight-and-a-half minutes into the flight, resulting in another "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

The investigation into the January explosion, conducted jointly by SpaceX and the FAA, concluded that a series of propellant leaks and fires in the aft section of the vehicle were to blame. These leaks and fires caused "all but one of Starship’s engines to execute controlled shut down sequences," leading to the communication breakdown and the vehicle’s self-destruction.

Prior to the successful ocean landing on June 6, 2024, SpaceX’s first three launches of the Starship mega-rocket all ended in explosions, further highlighting the trial-and-error nature of the development process. The company has invested years into building and testing Starships, with the goal of creating the first fully reusable launch system capable of transporting humans and cargo to the Moon, and potentially even Mars.

SpaceX’s Starship is a critical component of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. NASA’s lunar exploration plans envision Artemis III astronauts traveling aboard the Orion capsule and then transferring to a Starship in lunar orbit for the final descent to the lunar surface.

Musk has also expressed his ambition to send the first Starships to Mars by late 2026, coinciding with the next favorable alignment between Earth and Mars. This ambitious timeline underscores the urgency and drive behind the Starship program.

SpaceX has dramatically increased the pace of Starship launches over the past two years, with two flight tests conducted in 2023 and four in 2024. Musk has proposed an even more ambitious plan of 25 Starship launches this year. However, this proposal would require approval from federal regulators, and comes amid rising concerns about Musk’s political influence.

Despite Musk’s announcement on X regarding another launch in four to six weeks, SpaceX has yet to formally announce a date for the ninth Starship launch. The continued testing and development of Starship reflects the immense technological challenges involved in creating a fully reusable space launch system. The ultimate success of this program hinges on SpaceX’s ability to identify and address the root causes of these failures and to implement effective corrective actions to improve the reliability and safety of the Starship vehicle. The future of lunar exploration and deep space missions may well depend on it.