Starship Catastrophe: SpaceX’s Ambitious Rocket Launch Ends in Ruin

SpaceX conducted the launch of its colossal Super Heavy-Starship mega rocket on its seventh test flight Thursday, successfully “catching” the primary stage booster back at its launch platform, though it lost its next-generation Starship upper stage spacecraft, which seemingly disintegrated while ascending to space. Debris from the demolished Starship momentarily disrupted airline operations out of Miami, Florida, as stated by federal authorities. 

Telemetry data from the Starship seized up eight minutes and 27 seconds post-launch due to unexpected engine shutdowns or malfunctions. SpaceX subsequently verified the ship’s destruction in a post on X, using a humorous phrasing:

“Starship faced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will persist in analyzing data from today’s flight test to gain insights into the underlying issue. With a test like this, success derives from our learnings, and today’s flight will enhance Starship’s dependability.”

“We (lost) all contact with the ship,” a SpaceX launch commentator remarked regarding the Starship. “That indicates we encountered an anomaly with the upper stage.” Shortly after, he confirmed: “We did indeed lose the upper stage.”   

The Federal Aviation Administration also noted that airline operations at Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airports faced delays up to an hour due to what it characterized as a “rocket launch anomaly.”  

The FAA stated that it “briefly slowed and rerouted aircraft around the area where debris from the space vehicle was descending.” It confirmed that normal operations had resumed. 

“The FAA is aware that an anomaly took place during the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 mission that launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on January 16,” the agency mentioned in a follow-up comment, adding that it is “evaluating the operation.”

Videos shared on social media and validated by CBS News displayed debris from the Starship descending in the vicinity of Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

SpaceX’s affluent owner Elon Musk later suggested a potential cause, posting to his X platform: “Preliminary indications suggest that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was significant enough to create pressure exceeding the vent capacity. Apart from obviously verifying for leaks, we will implement fire suppression in that area and likely increase the vent capacity.”

In a press release, SpaceX indicated that “initial data reveals a fire emerged in the aft section of the ship, resulting in a rapid unscheduled disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean within the designated hazard zones.”

SpaceX advised that anyone who believes they have found debris should contact local authorities or the company’s debris hotline at 1-866-623-0234. 

The massive rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas manufacturing and flight test facility on the Gulf Coast at 5:37 p.m. Eastern Time, igniting 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines producing up to 16 million pounds of thrust.

Utilizing 40,000 pounds of propellant each second, the booster ascended from its launch pad and elegantly curved over to the east, trailing a long plume of burning exhaust visible for miles around.

At two minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the Super Heavy separated, allowing the Starship to continue its ascent to space powered by its six Raptor engines.

The booster, conversely, rotated around, re-igniting several engines to reverse its path and flew back toward Boca Chica where the specialized mechanical arms on the rocket’s launch gantry were open and ready.

Descending tail first towards Earth, the Super Heavy reignited its engines, angling as they guided it to the platform, and then landed directly between the chopsticks, which smoothly closed to seize their target in mid-air.

The first such recovery last October was successful, an astonishing sight for thousands of elated residents and visitors. However, the Super Heavy used for the subsequent flight the next month was diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico due to launch damage to sensors on the tower required for directing the descending booster into place.

New sensors equipped with enhanced shielding have been installed to prevent such damage, and SpaceX engineers are optimistic that they will soon recover Super Heavy boosters with the same frequency they’ve exhibited with the Falcon 9 rockets, an essential aspect of SpaceX’s ambitions to reduce launch expenses.

In alignment with the reusability concept, the

Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines encompassed one that was utilized in a prior test flight to showcase its capability to conduct multiple missions.

The majority of the enhancements examined on Thursday were integrated into what SpaceX referred to as a “next-generation” Starship. Two minutes subsequent to the booster “landing,” the upper stage ascended into space.

However, the loss of telemetry left flight controllers uninformed about what might have transpired in the final moments of the ascent.

In these early test flights, the Starships do not aim to achieve orbit. Rather, they orbit halfway around the globe and descend belly-first through an intense blaze of atmospheric friction before flipping to a nose-up position for a tail-first, rocket-powered splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

For Thursday’s mission, significant test objectives included restarting a Raptor engine in space and deploying 10 dummy Starlink models to evaluate a new satellite delivery mechanism that functions similarly to a Pez candy dispenser. Starships are anticipated to launch thousands of Starlinks once the rocket becomes operational.

Among other enhancements were smaller stabilizing fins, repositioned to minimize exposure to re-entry heating, an enhanced propulsion avionics system, redesigned fuel feed lines, and a 25% increase in propellant capacity to enhance performance.

The revamped avionics system features a more robust flight computer, new antennas that merge signals from Starlink and GPS navigation satellites, “smart batteries,” and power units to operate two dozen high-voltage actuators and redesigned navigation sensors.

SpaceX also incorporated extra cameras, with over 30 installed to provide direct visibility of essential systems, utilizing operational Starlink satellites to stream real-time video and data back to the ground.

Though the spacecraft is intended to be entirely reusable, SpaceX has yet to make any efforts to capture a returning Starship or, for that matter, a Falcon 9 upper stage.

Nonetheless, Thursday’s test flight included numerous experiments to assess various heat shield enhancements, comprising metallic tiles and one featuring active cooling, alongside dummy Starship catch fittings, to gather further insights on their response to re-entry heating.

“This upcoming year will be revolutionary for Starship,” SpaceX stated on its website, “aiming to bring the reuse of the complete system into operation and conducting increasingly ambitious missions as we work towards the capability to send humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, and Mars.”

Getting the Super Heavy-Starship operating on a routine basis is vital to NASA’s Artemis moon initiative. NASA is compensating SpaceX to develop a variant of the Starship upper stage to transport astronauts to the lunar surface within the 2027 timeframe.

For a Starship to reach the moon, SpaceX must initially launch it to low-Earth orbit, where a series of other Starship “tankers” will need to rendezvous, dock, and autonomously refuel the moon-bound craft so it can propel away from Earth’s orbit and journey into deep space.

Astronauts sent in an Orion capsule aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will subsequently meet the Starship in lunar orbit for the descent to the surface.

NASA’s agreement necessitates one uncrewed lunar landing test flight before astronauts can be authorized to descend to the surface. The ongoing test program will ascertain when this may occur.