Elon Musk’s megarocket, Starship, explodes in its latest test as Trump watches

With British timing intact, the rocket lifted off, igniting the Superheavy stage’s 33 Raptor engines. At 3 minutes 40 seconds it separated from the upper stage, Starship, without any apparent problems. However, a few minutes later, SpaceX engineers confirmed that on this occasion the superheavy ‘Hunt’ could not be seen at the ‘MechaZilla’ base like in the previous test. The company had previously warned that they would be strict on the decision to use reception facilities on the sea platform – a decision which is made after the separation of the two stages. The Superheavy eventually fell into the Indian Ocean, exploding after hitting the water, leaving a tank floating in the water.

While all this was happening, the Starship continued its way for another hour on a parabolic trajectory whose end was marked over the Indian Ocean near the coast of Australia. After a half-hour flight, Starship managed to turn one of its Raptors into space, which will allow it, in theory, to perform orbital flights in the next tests. Inside, a banana as cargo represents zero gravity. At exactly one hour, the rocket began descent and atmospheric reentry was shown live, the first time during the day. After giving some spectacular views of the rocket landing over the ocean, the Starship eventually burst into flames floating above the Indian Ocean.

previous test

Elon Musk is used to explosions and flames. Although SpaceX has been testing both stages separately for years (half of them with ‘explosive’ results), we had to wait until April last year to see the integrated Starship fly for the first time. However, this adventure was short-lived: three minutes after liftoff, and after failing to separate both stages, the rocket self-destructed for safety reasons after spinning uncontrollably for several seconds.

The second attempt took place in November. On this occasion, both stages successfully separated, but a few minutes later both Starship and Superheavy burst into flames. The third attempt was much better: stage separation was performed correctly and both Superheavy and Starship continued on their path as planned. The problem came with splashdown and reentry, as the Superheavy, although it was placed in the correct position, fell uncontrollably at the last moment. The Starship, for its part, although at first it was placed in a vertical position according to the plan, during re-entry it could be seen how it oscillated in an uncontrolled trajectory.

The fourth test in June went a step further and managed a controlled return of both stages, although we had to wait until the fifth and so far last attempt to see the Superheavy being ‘caught’ by the sea platform’s robotic arms . On a successful flight (although the methane leak ended with a bigger flame show than the rest).

what to expect in the future

Starship aims to be a fully reusable launcher that can be used for multiple launches. In fact, this will be the last time we see this model of rocket: the next version to be tested will include changes, such as removing the piece that now protects the Superheavy from starship ignition (and that is not ) reusable) or a new heat shield.

Starship will be the rocket that will carry the next crew of NASA astronauts to set foot on the Moon again, specifically on the Artemis 3 mission, which was scheduled to fly in September 2026 (though that was originally scheduled for next year. was planned).

However, first SpaceX must prove that it is capable of not only successfully flying its Starship in this type of test, but also landing the upper stage on our satellite and then returning the Orion capsule (which carries the astronauts) to flight. Capable of filling. Will travel) on Earth. The idea is that the tests will be shortened in time and we will see periodic launches until a fully operational rocket arrives by September 2026.

“That’s the date we’re working on.” We have no known constraints and there are some things that are being done for the first time, but we have plans to demonstrate them,” Kent Chozanki, deputy director of NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, explained to Spaceflight Now.

Chojanki is responsible for overseeing the contracts for the development of Starship and Blue Origin’s lunar lander, Blue Moon, which will be used on the Artemis 5 mission, as the US space agency did not want to put all its eggs in one basket and did so Have done. chose to diversify its contractors, as it already did with the ships that currently send their astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).