A ground test of SpaceX’s Starship rocket ended in a massive explosion on Thursday morning at the company’s Starbase centre in Boca Chica, Texas.
A dramatic video posted on social media shows Starship Ship 36 erupting into a massive fireball at about 8am UAE time while undergoing a static fire test, where the rocket is partially fuelled and engines are ignited before an actual flight can take place.
An anomaly caused the explosion during the test to prepare Starship for its 10th flight, SpaceX said on X. “A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” the company added.
“Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials," it added. "There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while 'safing' operations continue.”
The cause of the anomaly is unclear, but the incident is expected to delay the launch attempt.
Starship is a two-stage rocket system that consists of the Super Heavy Booster and the Starship spacecraft.
The explosion comes after a series of setbacks for SpaceX in terms of Starship’s development timeline, with the past three attempts to recover the upper-stage Starship vehicle ending in failure.
Despite back-to-back failures this year, the company has made significant progress in developing the rocket since its first test flight in 2023. These have included recovering the booster using the mechanical arms and bringing back the spacecraft after some flights.
Mission to Mars
SpaceX founder Elon Musk is developing Starship to eventually send humans to Mars.
The company also has a $2.89 billion contract with Nasa to develop a Starship system to land astronauts on the Moon. It has been carrying out test flights to prepare the rocket for commercial operations.
SpaceX recently secured permission to increase its launches from five to 25 a year from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
