SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk's Mars mission
Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS
(Reuters) -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 program.
The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the tenth 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.
'Preliminary data suggests that 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 that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,' he continued.
SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Cassel Bryan-Low in London; Editing by Joe Brock and Aidan Lewis)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
Google offers to tweak search results to promote rivals, stave off EU antitrust fine, documents show
FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich, Switzerland July 19, 2018. Picture taken July 19, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google has proposed more changes to its search results to better showcase rivals in a bid to stave off a possible hefty EU antitrust fine, according to documents seen by Reuters. Google's latest proposal came three months after the European Commission charged the U.S. tech giant with favouring its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over rivals in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The landmark DMA sets out a list of dos and don'ts for Big Tech aimed at reining in their power and giving rivals more room to compete and consumers more choices. Under Google's new proposal a vertical search service (VSS) selected on objective and non-discriminatory criteria would get its own box at the top of the search page with the same format, information and features as Google's, the document said. The box would contain three direct links picked by the VSS, to hotels, airlines, restaurants and transport. Other VSS, which are specialised search engines within Google, would be ranked below but without a box unless users click on them. "We do not agree with the (Commission's) preliminary findings' position but, on a without prejudice basis, we want to find a workable solution to resolve the present proceedings," the documents sent by both Google and the Commission to the rivals said. The rivals will provide feedback at a July 8 meeting called by the Commission. A number of rivals, who did not want to be named ahead of the meeting, told Reuters that the changes still do not go far enough to ensure a level playing field. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Musk's xAi increases yield offer on $5 billion debt raise, source says
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and the xAI logo are seen in this illustration taken January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo NEW YORK (Reuters) -Elon Musk's xAi is increasing the yield it is offering on a $5 billion debt raise led by Morgan Stanley, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. xAi is offering to pay 12.5% yield on $3 billion in bonds, said the source who asked for anonymity to disclose non-public information. Previously, sources told Reuters the company had offered a 12% yield. xAi is also offering 12.5% fixed yield on a $1 billion term loan and set to price a $1 billion term loan B at 725 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, known as SOFR. The term loan B is set to be priced at a discount of 96 cents on the dollar, the source said. The initial offering on the securities was 12% on the fixed loan and 700 basis points over the SOFR on the floating rate loan. Junk-rated bonds paid an average yield to maturity of 7.602%, according to ICE BofA High Yield Index. The deadline for investor commitments was extended from Tuesday to Friday and allocations will be done one day after closing, the source said. If the deal closes on Friday, allocations will happen on Monday. An increase in the yield offer could mean that investors had probably agreed to buy the debt only for a higher yield. The borrower also has lesser flexibility on pricing when investor demand is modest. The xAI offering, which was reported on June 2 as Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump traded barbs over social media, did not receive overwhelming interest from high-yield and leveraged loan investors, Reuters reported earlier this week. Unlike Musk's debt deal when he acquired Twitter, Morgan Stanley did not guarantee how much it would sell or commit its own capital to the deal, in what is called a "best efforts" transaction, according to one person familiar with the terms. xAi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Additional reporting by Matt Tracy; Editing by Mark Porter, Alexandra Hudson)
Malaysian Reserve
8 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
China's Baidu eyes robotaxi expansion to Singapore and Malaysia
BAIDU Inc. is planning to launch its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Singapore and Malaysia as early as this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the company continues to expand its global footprint. Apollo Go is in discussions with potential partners to explore the right business models for the two markets, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Baidu Chief Executive Officer Robin Li has previously said the company was seeking partners such as mobility service providers, local taxi companies and third-party fleet operators for an asset-light approach. The development comes as Tesla Inc. prepares to launch its Cybercab robotaxi network within days, with Elon Musk staking the electric car maker's future growth on autonomous driving technology. At the same time, Chinese robotaxi companies including Apollo Go, and US-listed Weride Inc. and Pony AI Inc. are expanding into international markets such as the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Baidu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Dow Jones Newswires reported the plans earlier. Apollo Go is fast scaling up. It has deployed than 1,000 self-driving vehicles worldwide, most of which are in China. It reached 11 million rides by the first quarter of this year, surpassing Alphabet Inc.'s autonomous driving unit Waymo's 10 million paid rides as of May 23. The Baidu unit is also exploring entering Europe and Turkey, and was in talks with Swiss Post unit PostAuto to roll out a robotaxi service in Switzerland. –BLOOMBERG
