SpaceX’s ambition to revolutionise spaceflight suffered another blow on Tuesday as its Starship megarocket broke apart over the Indian Ocean, minutes after its third major test flight. Launched from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas, the 403-foot-tall rocket soared into the sky during what was its ninth demonstration mission. Spectators gathered across the state to witness the momentous event. However, the spacecraft soon lost stability and disintegrated mid-flight.
The test flight was intended to deploy a set of dummy satellites once the rocket reached space, but that objective was thwarted when the bay doors failed to open fully. “Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,” SpaceX said in a statement issued online.
According to SpaceX, the rocket experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, a term it uses to describe a sudden explosion. The spacecraft had been spinning uncontrollably before plummeting into the Indian Ocean.
Providing further insight into the anomaly, SpaceX commentator Dan Huot stated, “We have been dealing with some leaks on the ship… This is also what led to that loss of attitude control,” as reported by Bloomberg.
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The launch system comprised the Starship upper stage and the Super Heavy Booster. Despite the failure, SpaceX maintained that the mission had provided critical real-world data.
“First reflight of a Super Heavy booster! Today’s test objectives were designed to intentionally push Super Heavy to the limits, giving us real-world data about its performance that will directly feed in to making the next generation booster even more capable,” the company said.
“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,” the statement added.
The Starship project, led by Elon Musk, aims to revolutionise space travel by offering a fully reusable system capable of transporting large payloads and eventually humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
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