Texas : Elon Musk’s ambitious project suffered a setback when a booster rocket developed by his company SpaceX exploded on Monday after catching fire during a ground test.
This SpaceX booster rocket exploded before take-off. This booster rocket was designed for SpaceX’s next Starship spacecraft.
The company was aiming to launch Starship into orbit this year, this incident has dealt a big blow to Elon Musk’s goal of launching Starship. However, there is no report of any casualty during this period.
Elon Musk tweeted after the evening explosion of the Super Heavy Booster 7 Prototype, “Yeah, that’s not really good. The team is assessing the damage.
Holy moly. Well, that was unexpected!https://t.co/dUUqw7ojRv pic.twitter.com/7IGztPuE12
— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 11, 2022
Cause of Explosion Not Clear
The event was recorded in a livestream by the NASA Spaceflight website. However, there is no sign of any casualty from there. This next-generation Starship booster rocket was engulfed in flames after it exploded.
There has been no statement from SpaceX on this incident. The exact cause of the explosion of this rocket booster at the SpaceX plant is not known.
Looking at the video, it appears that the explosion was so strong that it shook even the camera recording the livestream. The booster rocket remained upright even after the explosion, while its lower part went up in flames.
The failure occurred in the middle of a day-long static fire test mission of the booster in Boca Chica, Texas. The booster was equipped with 33 Raptor engines and was targeted to deliver Starship into space by the end of this year.
What is SpaceX Starship
SpaceX Starship aims to make human space travel more affordable and regular. You can also call it SpaceX’s Next Generation Launch Vehicle. The total length of SAX’s entire starship is 394 feet (120 m).
This is one of Elon Musk’s ambitious projects. However, Reuters reported that SpaceX declined to comment and did not answer questions when asked about the reason for the incident on Monday.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also did not respond when asked whether it would investigate the explosion.
A booster rocket developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX for its next-generation Starship spacecraft burst into flames during a ground-test firing in Texas. https://t.co/eNmuEIcbk7
— Reuters Science News (@ReutersScience) July 12, 2022
Elon Musk said that we will not do the spin start test with all 33 engines at once. In late 2020 and early 2021, SpaceX lost four prototypes of Starship in a category of high-altitude test launches.
He fell victim to an explosion in his return landing attempts. However, the Starship prototype finally achieved a safe touchdown in May 2021, ie a safe landing on the ground.