SpaceX Starship explodes during routine test
AUSTIN - One of Elon Musk's SpaceX Starships exploded during a routine test late Wednesday in Texas, law enforcement said, in the latest setback to the billionaire's dream of turning humanity into an interplanetary species.
The Starship 36 suffered "catastrophic failure and exploded" at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the Cameron County authorities said.
A video shared with the post showed the megarocket attached to the launch arm, and then a flash and a towering, fiery explosion.
Musk's Space X said the rocket was preparing for the tenth flight test when it "experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase," without elaborating on the nature of the complication.
"A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for," Space X added on social media.
"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 Starship was not scheduled for launch on Wednesday evening when the explosion occurred during a "routine static fire test," according to the Cameron County authorities.
During a static fire, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship's Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.
Starbase on the south Texas coast, near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk's space project.
- Megarocket -
Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket and central to Musk's long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons.
The latest setback follows an explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.
The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off on May 27 from the Starbase facility, but the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.
But the failures will likely do little to dent Musk's spacefaring ambitions.
SpaceX has been betting that its "fail fast, learn fast" ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.
The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower's giant robotic arms three times a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.
NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in early May approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely impact the environment.
The decision overruled objections from conservation groups who had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
10 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
How Tesla plans to remotely operate its robotaxis — and where the limits lie
Tesla is expected to tiptoe into its long-awaited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, as soon as Sunday with about 10 of its Model Y SUVs that will operate within strict limits. CEO Elon Musk has said the company is being 'super paranoid' about safety and that humans will remotely monitor the fleet. Remote access and control — known in the industry as 'teleoperation' — is used in varying degrees by the handful of robotaxi start-ups operating around the globe. The technology has clear advantages and important limitations. Here are some details of how it works: What is teleoperation? Teleoperation is the control of machines by humans in a different location, usually over a wireless network. It is used to train robots to operate autonomously, monitor their autonomous activity and take over when required. How do robotaxi operators use teleoperation? The global robotaxi industry is still in test mode, as companies deploy the vehicles in limited geographic areas and continually adjust the artificial intelligence software that controls them. Teleoperation is often used to intervene when a vehicle is unsure of what to do. Alphabet's Waymo, for example, has a team of human 'fleet response' agents who respond to questions from the Waymo Driver — its bot. 'Much like phone-a-friend, when the Waymo vehicle encounters a particular situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to a human fleet response agent for additional information,' Waymo said in a blog post last year. Former Waymo CEO John Krafcik told Reuters, 'the cars aren't being actively monitored,' adding that the software is 'the ultimate decisionmaker'. A Waymo video shows a car asking a remote operator whether a street with emergency response vehicles is open to traffic. When the human says yes, the vehicle proceeds. In contrast, other companies, such as Baidu's Apollo Go in China, have used fully remote backup drivers who can step in to virtually drive the vehicles. Baidu declined to comment. What are the limitations? Driving vehicles remotely on public roads has a major potential problem: it relies on cellular data connections that can drop or operate with a lag, disconnecting the vehicle from the remote driver in dangerous situations. Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor and autonomous-vehicle safety expert, said that approach could work for a small test deployment of 10 vehicles, such as Tesla's initial effort in Austin, but he called teleoperation 'inherently unreliable technology'. 'Eventually you will lose connection at exactly the worst time,' he said. 'If they've done their homework, this won't ever happen for 10 cars. With a million cars, it's going to happen every day.' Former Waymo CEO Krafcik agreed, adding that the time delay in cell signal makes remote driving 'very risky'. On the other hand, relying on the vehicle to reach out for help and allowing the vehicle to be the decisionmaker are risky as well, Koopman said, as it does not guarantee the vehicle will make the right decision. Waymo declined to comment on the limitations of its approach. Koopman also noted there are limits to how many vehicles one person can safely monitor. A group of Democratic Texas legislators asked Tesla on Wednesday to delay its robotaxi launch until September, when a new autonomous-driving law is scheduled to take effect. The Austin-area legislators said in a letter that delaying the launch 'is in the best interest of both public safety and building public trust in Tesla's operations'. What is Tesla's approach? Musk for years has promised, without delivering, that its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) advanced driver assistance software would graduate to completely self-driving and control robotaxis. This year, he said Tesla would roll out a paid service in Austin underpinned by an 'unsupervised' version of the software. 'Teslas will be in the wild, with no one in them, in June, in Austin,' Musk told analysts and investors in January. In May, he told CNBC the robotaxi would only operate in parts of Austin that are safe for it, would avoid difficult intersections, and would use humans to monitor the vehicles. What those teleoperators will do is not clear. For years inside Tesla, company executives have expected to use teleoperators who could take over in case of trouble, said one person familiar with the matter. For instance, if a robotaxi were stuck in a crowded pedestrian area and confused about what to do next, a human teleoperator could take over and guide it, the source said. Tesla advertised for teleoperation positions, saying the company needs the ability to 'access and control' autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots remotely. Such employees can 'remotely perform complex and intricate tasks', it said in the advertisements. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
The Herald
11 hours ago
- The Herald
SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback for Musk's Mars mission
SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas late on Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for billionaire Elon Musk's Mars rocket programme. The explosion occurred around 11pm local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the 10th test flight, SpaceX said in a post on Musk's social-media platform X. The company attributed it to a 'major anomaly' and said all personnel were safe. Its engineering teams were investigating the incident, and it was coordinating with local, state and federal agencies regarding environmental and safety impacts, the company said. 'Preliminary data suggests a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure,' Musk said in a post on X, in a reference to a nitrogen gas storage unit known as a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. 'If further investigation confirms this is what happened, it is the first time for this design,' he said. The Starship rocket appeared to experience at least two explosions in quick succession, lighting up the night sky and sending debris flying, according to video capturing the moment it exploded.
TimesLIVE
15 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback for Musk's Mars mission
SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas late on Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for billionaire Elon Musk's Mars rocket programme. The explosion occurred around 11pm local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the 10th test flight, SpaceX said in a post on Musk's social-media platform X. The company attributed it to a 'major anomaly' and said all personnel were safe. Its engineering teams were investigating the incident, and it was coordinating with local, state and federal agencies regarding environmental and safety impacts, the company said. 'Preliminary data suggests a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure,' Musk said in a post on X, in a reference to a nitrogen gas storage unit known as a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. 'If further investigation confirms this is what happened, it is the first time for this design,' he said. The Starship rocket appeared to experience at least two explosions in quick succession, lighting up the night sky and sending debris flying, according to video capturing the moment it exploded.
