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Regulators are reviewing reports of property damage in the island nation of Turks and Caicos caused by falling debris after a SpaceX Starship vehicle exploded over the ocean during a test mission Thursday , according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Flights of the spacecraft and rocket system are now grounded pending an investigation into the accident, the agency confirmed in a statement Friday. The FAA said it had not received any reports of injuries related to the incident.
Authorities regularly halt rocket flights to conduct what’s called an “incident investigation” when launches and flights don’t go as planned.
SpaceX will conduct the investigation, as the company confirmed yesterday, and the FAA will then release a list of corrective actions the company must take in order to get Starship back on the launch pad for another test flight.
The SpaceX vehicle disintegrated Thursday midway through the rocket system’s seventh uncrewed test flight — about 10 minutes into a mission launched from south Texas. A shower of debris prompted the FAA to briefly create a “debris response zone” that forced planes to divert, causing a series of travel delays.
The FAA implements such a response zone only when debris from a rocket accident falls outside predefined danger zones closed to aircraft, according to the agency. However, SpaceX claimed in a statement Thursday that “surviving debris would have fallen within the designated danger zone.” (Initially, the statement described the debris as falling “into the Atlantic Ocean” – but the text was changed Friday afternoon to remove that phrase.)
When asked to clarify what constituted a “dangerous area” and which locations were closed to air traffic during the launch, the FAA said its “investigation is ongoing” and that “the information is preliminary and subject to change.” change “. The agency added that the amount of airspace closed to rocket launches can vary from launch to launch depending on various factors, including the safety record of the launcher.
After the Starship exploded Thursday, photos and videos flooded social media, showing debris glowing bright orange and white as it streaked across the sky. Much of the footage was captured from the Turks and Caicos Islands or on cruise ships and other nearby islands.
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told CNN that his analysis of the Starship’s trajectory showed the vehicle likely exploded “over the Bahamas, (with) debris passing over the Turks and Caicos Islands a few minutes later about 120 km. altitude (~75 miles).
“Debris probably fell a few minutes later into the sea north of Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands,” he added.
The FAA said in its statement Friday that the agency was working alongside SpaceX and local authorities to investigate reports of debris hitting the Turks and Caicos Islands. CNN also contacted local government and emergency services.
SpaceX is asking members of the public who may encounter debris not to handle the object, but to contact local authorities or the company.
SpaceX has been actively conducting a testing and development campaign since 2023 with the aim of refining the design of its Starship launch system, which consists of two parts: the Super Heavy rocket booster, which provides initial power at liftoff, and the Starship. spaceship riding on it.
SpaceX recovered the Super Heavy booster after launch Thursday, guiding it to a precision landing on the launch pad. After separating from the Super Heavy a few minutes into the flight, the Starship starts its own engines and continues its own journey – a journey which, this time, it did not survive.
SpaceX is known for facing fiery incidents during test flights, as the company prefers to launch relatively cheap prototypes to learn quickly rather than relying on extensive ground testing and simulations.
Ultimately, SpaceX aims to send Starship into orbit to deposit satellites or transport convoys of people to the Moon or Mars. But during Thursday’s test flight, the vehicle was expected to follow a suborbital trajectory and crash into the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch, following a similar trajectory to the one it took on recent demonstration missions .
Starship attempted controlled landings in the Indian Ocean during its latest flights. But on Thursday, SpaceX said it was testing substantial “improvements” to the vehicle, including larger fuel tanks that increased its size by 2 meters (6.6 feet), a new flight computer and modifications to the vehicle. avionics of the vehicle.
For the first few minutes, the mission appeared to be going smoothly, as Starship started up its six engines after separating from the Super Heavy. However, about five minutes later, one of the Starship’s engines shut down.
After 8 minutes and 30 seconds, five of the six engines were offline. SpaceX’s Dan Huot and Kate Tice, who hosted a webcast of the test flight, confirmed about 10 minutes later that the Starship spacecraft had been lost.
It is unclear whether the investigation into the accident will cause significant delays in Starship testing.
Explosive accidents during Starship test flights have occurred in the past, particularly early in the test campaign. But most “rapid, unplanned disassembly” – as SpaceX calls explosive accidents – have taken place closer to designated launch or landing sites. These incidents also led to investigations that left Starship grounded for weeks.
Notably, the explosion that occurred Thursday occurred less than halfway through the Starship’s flight path over an area dotted with populated islands.
FAA-related delays with Starship have often drawn Musk’s ire.
Musk appeared to signal Thursday that he did not anticipate significant delays, despite the loss of Starship. He said in a social media post that, based on a “preliminary” review of the issue, “nothing so far suggests pushing the next launch beyond next month.”
Initial analyzes “indicate that a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid and unplanned disassembly,” SpaceX said in a statement.
It’s unclear how Musk’s role in the new presidential administration might affect oversight of SpaceX.
Musk has also been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to co-lead a new “Department of Government Effectiveness,” and his stated goals are to shrink the federal budget and operations by cutting spending, limiting regulations, and removing workforce.
Trump’s inauguration takes place on Monday. Musk should be there.
