Elon Musk‘s Mars ambitions continue to be an elusive goal for the billionaire, as SpaceX‘s Starship test launch in Texas ended with a mid-flight failure.
What Happened: The test flight performed better than on the previous two occasions and reached beyond the points of prior test launches on Tuesday, but it spun out of control as Starship reached suborbital space.
The company also lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster, also used in previous flights, during its descent after Starship’s main vessel was launched into space as the booster plunged into the sea.
Starship began to spin uncontrollably 30 minutes into the mission. SpaceX also cancelled its plans to release eight mock Starlink satellites to test the company’s ‘Pez dispenser’ tech.
Musk took to X after the test. “Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent,” he said in the post.
The billionaire also said that a fuel leak caused the loss of pressure during re-entry, before adding that “Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks.”
Why It Matters: SpaceX’s Starship rocket is a crucial element in Musk’s plans to set up a colony on Mars, as the billionaire recently shared that Starship can reach the red planet in 6 months.
However, it seems like SpaceX will continue to conduct test launches for the rocket as the company recently received FAA approval to scale up launches from the Texas launch site from 5 to 25, following a year-long review.
President Donald Trump‘s pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, shares Musk’s ambition for Mars as he recently said that NASA would “prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars.”
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