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Digital Trends
a day ago
- Science
- Digital Trends
SpaceX boss Elon Musk says Starship will fly ‘next month'
SpaceX chief Elon Musk said on Monday that the Starship rocket will make its 10th test flight in August. Musk made the announcement in a post on X, saying, 'Starship launches again next month.' Recommended Videos Further details about a specific date have yet to be shared by Musk or SpaceX, but multiple reports over recent weeks have suggested the next flight of the world's most powerful rocket could take place in the first half of the month. The 10th test flight would likely have taken place by now if it hadn't been for a massive explosion that occurred last month that saw the upper-stage spacecraft erupt into a fireball shortly after the completion of a ground-based engine test at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The cause was put down to a failure in a pressurized tank called a COPV (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel) that contains gaseous nitrogen in the nosecone area of the spacecraft. This failure triggered a catastrophic chain reaction that destroyed the vehicle and damaged the test site. Last week, Musk also said that shortly before next month's 10th test flight, he will give a technical update about the Starship, 'going over progress to date and engineering/production/launch plans for the future.' NASA and SpaceX are aiming to use the Starship for crew and cargo flights to the moon in the upcoming Artemis missions. The first of these is likely to involve the use of a modified version of the upper-stage spacecraft to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission in what would be NASA's first human landing there since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The Artemis III mission is currently targeted for 2027, though that date could slip. Musk is also keen to see the Starship used for the first-ever crewed mission to Mars. While he's spoken of such a mission taking place before the end of this decade, it seems unlikely to happen until the 2030s at the very earliest. The 120-meter-tall Starship first flew in April 2023, and its most recent flight took place in May of this year. While the vehicle is making progress in terms of overall performance, there's still much testing to be done before it becomes operational.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Video Shows Large Crane Collapsing at Safety-Plagued SpaceX Rocket Facility
Elon Musk's Texas Starbase is still reeling from its latest Starship explosion. Now, it has a crane collapse to deal with too. As eagle-eyed Starbase watchers flagged in a livestream from earlier this week, one of the cranes at the site of the explosion — which was, according to CBS News 4, powerful enough to be picked up by weather radar — collapsed in a heap in the middle of the day. "This has always been one of my biggest fears in every industry I've worked in," tweeted Zack Golden, the SpaceX fan who noticed the collapse on a livestream from LabPadre, a fancam site that records the Boca Chica, Texas facility. "I hope everything is alright." Though there's some speculation online suggesting that the crane had been lifting the carcass of the exploded Starship when it collapsed, it's not clear that's been established for certain. We've reached out to SpaceX and LabPadre to ask if there's any additional information or video to be shared about what happened there — and, more importantly, whether anyone was hurt in the process. Last week's Starship explosion didn't just release a massive fireball and impact local weather radar in South Texas, but also, as the Associated Press reports, resulted in large pieces of debris landing in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas. In its aftermath, the AP notes, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum is investigating what international laws the Musk-owned company might have broken when the wreckage breached international borders. "There is indeed contamination," Sheinbaum claimed during a daily news briefing that also saw her threatening to file "the necessary lawsuits" once her country's probe is complete. The facility that lives on a beach near the newly-incorporated company town of Starbase has long been plagued by safety issues ranging from debris showers from prior Starship failures and is the leading site of hundreds of recorded injuries at the company, per a Reuters investigation from 2023. While there have been no reported injuries in this most recent Starship explosion, we won't be sure that the cleanup effort has continued that record unless SpaceX gets back to us — and we'll be sure to update if that occurs. More on Starbase: Latest Starship Explosion Drastically Decreases SpaceX's Chances of Reaching Mars Without Having to Wait Years Solve the daily Crossword
Digital Trends
17-07-2025
- Science
- Digital Trends
Elon Musk reveals target date for next Starship launch
Everything went quiet following the dramatic explosion last month that destroyed SpaceX's Starship spacecraft during ground-based preparations for the vehicle's 10th flight test. But SpaceX chief Elon Musk has now revealed that his team expects to fly the Starship — comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft — in about three weeks' time. Recommended Videos The huge explosion at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, took everyone by surprise, and fortunately no one was killed or injured in the massive fireball. A few days after it happened, SpaceX said the explosion occurred as the team was loading cryogenic propellant onto the spacecraft in preparation for a six-engine static fire test 'when a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand.' SpaceX said that its preliminary investigation indicated 'the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship's nosecone area,' though it has yet to publish a full data review, which should contain more details about what actually happened. The Starship program is certainly no stranger to large explosions and disintegrations, but they usually occur in midair, well after the rocket has left the launchpad. The first Starship flight test took place in April 2023. During the early part of the ascent, multiple Raptor engines failed on the Super Heavy booster. When stage separation failed to occur, the vehicle began to spin and was intentionally destroyed by the flight termination system about four minutes after launch at an altitude of 24.2 miles (39 km). The following eight flights have produced mixed results — while the team has managed to land the Super Heavy back at base in what is an extraordinary maneuver, the upper-stage spacecraft has suffered some rougher rides in recent flights. Still, SpaceX seems pretty happy with the flight tests overall, and is using the data gathered from each one to try to improve the design and performance of the vehicle. Once fully operational, the Starship will be used for crew and cargo missions to the lunar surface, with crewed missions to Mars also on the cards.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mexico Threatens SpaceX Lawsuit After Texas Explosion
Mexico's president is threatening a lawsuit against American innovation — again. This time, it's Elon Musk's SpaceX that's in the crosshairs, after a recent rocket explosion at the company's Starbase launch site near Boca Chica, Texas. The site, located just miles from the southern border shared with Mexico, has become a symbol of both cutting-edge space technology and international friction. During a press conference on Wednesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her administration is reviewing alleged 'contamination' from debris that crossed into Mexico during a test failure last week, per The Guardian. The explosion, which occurred during a routine ground test of the Starship system — as previously covered by The Dallas Express — sent a fireball into the sky, a spectacle that has become a fairly routine part of developing powerful next-generation rockets. 'Just a scratch,' Musk posted to X after the explosion. Sheinbaum claims that the fallout violates international law and says her government is preparing 'the necessary lawsuits' to hold SpaceX accountable. However, U.S. officials, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — have already reviewed environmental concerns surrounding the program. As recently as May, the FAA approved an increase in annual launches from five to 25, saying that the launch activity would not pose significant environmental threats, including to wildlife along the Gulf Coast. The rhetoric from Mexico's president appears to be following a familiar pattern. In May, Sheinbaum's government said it was suing Google over labeling in its Maps application, after the tech company allegedly renamed the 'Gulf of Mexico' the 'Gulf of America' for some users. SpaceX, which employs thousands in South Texas and draws global attention to the Lone Star State's emerging role in space exploration, has not commented publicly on the potential lawsuit as of time of publication. Still, Texans watching this latest dispute may see it as yet another example of foreign leaders targeting American companies for political leverage. For now, SpaceX continues to push forward with development — even if the 'path to Mars' Musk dreams of seems to draw critics from outsiders, or legal heat from Mexico's leaders. As previously reported by DX, earlier this week a multinational team of four private astronauts successfully reached the International Space Station, completing a landmark mission by Houston-based Axiom Space in collaboration with SpaceX. Launched Wednesday aboard SpaceX's new Dragon capsule nicknamed 'Grace' from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the crew docked with the ISS after a 28-hour journey. SpaceX confirmed the docking in a video post, celebrating the mission's smooth arrival.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mexico threatens lawsuit against SpaceX over Starship explosion 'contamination'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to file a lawsuit against SpaceX over what the leader described as "contamination" following an explosion at SpaceX's Starbase facility earlier this month. On June 18, SpaceX was testing the upper stage of its Starship vehicle on a test stand at its Starbase site near Boca Chica Beach in Texas when Starship exploded in a dramatic fireball. SpaceX wrote on social media that there were no hazards to the surrounding communities following the explosion. But Sheinbaum contests that claim. In a press conference held on Wednesday (June 25), the Mexican president said there is a "general review underway of the international laws that are being violated" due to the fact that "there is contamination" stemming from Starship's explosion, according to Yucatan Magazine. The Guardian reports that Sheinbaum added that her government is looking to file "the necessary lawsuits" over the alleged contamination. SpaceX's Starbase testing and manufacturing facility is located near Boca Chica Beach. The area is at the very southeastern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande river, which divides the United States and Mexico. The Mexican city of Heroica Matamoros sits just across the border from Boca Chica and nearby Brownsville, Texas. This isn't the first time SpaceX has been threatened with environmental lawsuits, not to mention other legal cases. A coalition of environmental groups sued the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2023, claiming the agency did not conduct proper analyses of the damage Starship could cause to the surrounding areas, which are home to protected species of birds. In 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reported that SpaceX had violated the Clean Water Act after releasing pollutants into nearby body of waters, according to CNBC. SpaceX refuted the claims, calling the reporting "factually inaccurate." Starship launches — and explosions — have left significant amounts of debris throughout Boca Chica Beach and surrounding areas in the past. When Starship launched on its debut flight on April 20, 2023, the rocket's 33 first-stage Raptor engines sent chunks of cement and other debris flying for miles. Local residents described the launch as "terrifying" and compared it to an earthquake. Pieces of debris rained down in every direction, even crushing a nearby car. That flight ended in an equally dramatic fashion when SpaceX triggered its onboard flight termination system, causing the vehicle to explode some three minutes after liftoff. Fragments of the Starship vehicle were found along shores surrounding the area in the days following the flight. Starship's upper stage has exploded and/or crashed into the sea on eight of its nine of its test flights to date (on two launches, the company managed to return the vehicle's Super Heavy booster to Starbase, where it was caught by the 'chopstick' arms on its launch tower). On its fifth flight in November 2023, Starship managed to make a pinpoint splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
