The ambitious spacecraft of SpaceX staShip exploded in space a few minutes after takeoff from Texas on Thursday, marking the second failure this year for the Mars rocket program of Elon Musk. The incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to briefly stop air traffic in parts of Florida due to the decline in debris.
The videos circulating on social networks showed fragments of fire that ended in the sky of twilight near the south of Florida and the Bahamas after the spacecraft has lost control. A live flow from SpaceX revealed that the upper stage of starship began to turn uncontrollable before losing energy from the engine and separating.
Back for Mission Mars plans
The failure of this last starship test – its eighth in the general classification – has a little more than a month after a similar explosion during its previous flight. Consecutive failures took place during the first phases of the mission that SpaceX had previously navigated successfully, posing a setback for Musk’s objective to accelerate the development of the rocket this year.
The 403 -foot rocket system (123 meters) is at the heart of the long -term vision of Musk from the sending of humans to Mars, in the hope of achieving it as of the next decade.
The FAA launches the investigation
After the incident, the FAA briefly anchored flights in the main airports of Florida, notably Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando, due to the risk of falling space debris. The agency has now launched an official survey, forcing SpaceX to identify the cause of failure and obtain approval from the FAA before trying another launch.
The Starship rocket took off around 6.30 p.m. HE (2330 GMT) from the Boca Chica launch installation in Texas. While the super heavy first step booster has been successfully detached and was captured halfway through a SpaceX crane, the upper stage of the spacecraft encountered problems shortly after. The live flow has shown the rotation of the vehicle, with several engine failures leading to a total loss of control.
SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot admitted the reverse, referring to the failure of the previous stars in January:
“Unfortunately, it happened the last time too, so we have practice now”, “ He pointed out during the broadcast.
Cause of default identified
In a statement published Thursday evening, SpaceX confirmed that a “Energetic event” In the AFT section of the spacecraft, several engines fail, resulting in a loss of control of the attitude and ultimately cutting communications. The company lost contact with Starship for about 9 minutes and 30 seconds after takeoff.
Despite the explosion, SpaceX assured that debris had no toxic threat.
Previous failure and future prospects
The last starship failure in January also ended with an explosion about eight minutes of flight, spreading debris on the Caribbean islands and causing minor damage to a car in the Turkish islands and caïcos. Despite this, the FAA granted SpaceX’s authorization for Thursday’s test while investigating the previous failure.
The last test was intended to send starship on an almost complete orbit around the earth before entering the Indian Ocean for a splash. SpaceX aims to refine this back -to -school and landing sequence for future missions, especially possible landings.
With two consecutive failures, SpaceX is now faced with a meticulous examination of regulators and the challenge of solving these technical problems before carrying out other vessels.
