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
22 minutes ago
- The Star
EU probes Musk's xAI buyout of X, Bloomberg News reports
FILE PHOTO: xAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters) -Elon Musk's $33 billion xAI acquisition of X has drawn fresh scrutiny from the European Union, as regulators evaluate potential fines under the Digital Services Act, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The European Commission recently circulated fresh questions to X, probing the social media platform's corporate structure following its acquisition by xAI, the report said citing people familiar with the matter. Musk said in March the combination valued "xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion". Before its summer recess in August, the regulator could announce a fine on X for alleged infractions under the DSA, though delays are possible, according to the report. Representatives for the European Commission, xAI and X did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Any firm found in breach of the DSA faces a fine worth up to 6% of its global turnover, and repeat offenders may be banned from operating in Europe altogether. Earlier this month, X highlighted a disclaimer to its blue checkmark in an attempt to head off a possible hefty fine from EU antitrust regulators. The Commission issued preliminary findings under the DSA in July last year that X violated rules on deceptive design, especially by turning the blue checkmark into a paid verification, assigning false credibility to users. X had disagreed with the assessment. The EU had announced a probe into X's alleged breaches of the DSA in December 2023. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)
The Sun
37 minutes ago
- The Sun
SpaceX Starship explodes on Texas launch pad
HOUSTON: A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test in Texas late Wednesday, the company said, in the latest setback to billionaire Elon Musk's dream of sending humans to Mars. The explosion -- which sent a towering fireball into the air -- happened at the Starbase launch facility at about 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), SpaceX and law enforcement officials said. As the company prepared for a static fire test, 'a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand,' it said Thursday, updating its initial statement. 'The explosion ignited several fires at the test site which remains clear of personnel,' it said. 'As is the case before any test, a safety zone was established around the test site and was maintained throughout the operation. There are no reported injuries, and all personnel are safe and accounted for.' During a static fire test, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship's first-stage 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. The company was preparing for the 10th test flight of Starship. 'Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship's nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing,' SpaceX said. Musk appeared to downplay the incident on Thursday. 'Just a scratch,' he posted on his social media platform X. - Mega-rocket - Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket and is central to Musk's long-term vision of building a long-term colony on Mars. The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons. The latest setback follows the explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May. That day, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off from the Starbase facility, but the 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. However, 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. SpaceX said Thursday that there are 'no commonalities' between the COPVs used on Starship -- the current focus on the investigation -- and those used on Falcon. The Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment. The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Amazon orders employees to relocate to Seattle and other hubs
New directive: The relocation policy will affect thousands of Amazon employees on several teams. —Reuters NEW YORK: Inc is ordering some corporate employees to move closer to their managers and teams, roiling a workforce already worried about job cuts and warnings from the top that artificial intelligence (AI) will shrink their ranks in the coming years. Workers are being told to relocate to such cities as Seattle, Arlington, Virginia and Washington DC, which in some cases would require them to move across the country, according to sources. Amazon is mostly rolling out the mandate in one-on-one meetings and town halls rather than sending out a mass email, said the sources. The relocation policy will affect thousands of employees on several teams. Mid-career professionals with children in school and partners in established careers are reluctant to make big moves in light of Amazon's belt-tightening efforts. An Amazon spokesperson said 'for more than a year now, some teams have been working to bring their teammates closer together to help them be as effective as possible, but there isn't a one-size-fits all approach and there hasn't been a change in our approach as a company.' Amazon employees have been sharing information about the relocation mandate on the company's internal slack channels, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. One employee said the manager informed the team of the need to relocate and told them they had 30 days to make a decision. Then they had 60 days to either resign or begin their relocation process, according to the sources, who said they were told there would be no severance for employees who resigned in lieu of relocating. The company spokesperson said 'we hear from the majority of our teammates that they love the energy from being located together, and whenever someone chooses to or is asked to relocate, we work with them to offer support based on their individual circumstances.' When chief executive officer Andy Jassy ordered employees to return to the office five days a week beginning earlier this year, there was no requirement that they move to specific offices. Amazon has satellite workplaces around the country, including major metropolitan areas like New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and Austin, giving workers some flexibility about where they lived. Many employees were hired to fully remote positions during the pandemic. In 2022, Jassy initiated Amazon's biggest-ever round of corporate job cuts, which ultimately eliminated 27,000 positions across the Seattle-based company. There have since been several smaller rounds of reductions targeting particular departments. Telling workers to relocate will likely prompt some to quit, which can be a less expensive way to reduce headcount than executing layoffs and paying severance packages. Jassy on Tuesday said he expected the company's workforce to shrink in coming years due to AI advancements that will be capable of performing some employee functions. — Bloomberg
