SpaceX Starship Explodes in Spectacular Fireball at Texas Test Facility

The prototype of the upper scene of SpaceX, designated Ship 36, exploded in southeast Texas shortly before midnight on June 18 during routine preparations for a next test flight.

SpaceX is preparing for the next fully integrated starship test, known as flight 10. The last tests did not go well, but this prototype has never even left the ground. The explosion – as indicated in spectacular images of nasaspaceflight.com – was concluded in SpaceX’s Massey Facility, a test site located several kilometers from the launch support of Starbase, Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71AWKBT3_ts

The upper floor of 171 feet high (52 meters) “experienced a major anomaly on a Starbase Starbase,” said SpaceX in a statement On X. “A clear safety area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all the staff are safe and taken into account.” The Starbase team is coordinating with local authorities to manage the consequences of the incident, said SpaceX, adding that, although the company has not reported any threat to neighboring communities, it urged the public to avoid the area as security measures are carried out.

The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, sounded a few hours after the incident on X, brushing the incident as “Just a scratch. ” He elaborate Further this morning, saying that the first data “suggest an nitrogen COPV [composite overwrapped pressure vessel] In the payload bay, failed below its proof pressure “, and that if that turns out to be the case, it is the” very first time for this design “. A COPV is a light tank in composite fibers wrapped around a thin lining to store high pressure fluids, according to to NASA. No other details are known, but under the name of SpaceNews underlinesStarship was being prepared for a static fire test, and the explosion occurred before the rocket had the chance to draw its Raptor engines.

An opinion of June 18 of the Federal Aviation Administration underlined on June 29 as a potential date for flight 10, but it seems unlikely now. SpaceX is a bit of a collapse, with this incident adding to the battery of recent backhands. Flight 7 in January 2024 experienced A leak and a propellant fire triggered by unexpected vibrations in the propulsion system. In March, flight 8 was shorten By a material failure in one of the raptor engines, while flight 9 in can reach the space successfully, but a leak has led to a loss of control and the vehicle burst during the start of the school year.

The SpaceX Megarotian spacecraft is built to transport people and cargo on the moon, Mars and other destinations around the solar system. This is a key element of the NASA Artemis program, which aims to win astronauts on the moon by 2027, and is at the heart of Elon Musk’s declared objective to colonize Mars.