A rocket prototype developed by SpaceX, Mark 1, partially exploded during a pressure test conducted in Boca Chica, Texas.
The incident happened at the company’s launch site in Boca Chica this week and was captured on a Livestream by a YouTube user. During the test, the upper portion of the rocket blew apart and heavy plumes of smoke flowed from the vehicle, sending shrapnel flying into the air.
The purpose of the test was to pressurize systems to the max, so the outcome had not been completely unexpected,” a SpaceX officer told the media representatives, adding that there had been no injuries, nor that was “a serious setback.”
The winged rocket stage remained upright following the explosion and it appeared that a lower bulkhead might have failed as well. After the explosion, representatives of the private space transportation company said that Space X decided “to not fly this test article” prior to the setback which later was confirmed by a tweet sent by Musk when answering an enthusiast who asked whether SpaceX was planning to move onto the Mark3, a new prototype designed for orbit. Musk claimed that the test had “some value as a manufacturing pathfinder”, however, flight design “is quite different.”
The explanations contrast with a statement the CEO Musk gave to reporters in September, in which he said the spacecraft is planned to take off and reach low altitudes before returning to Earth.
The Starship prototype, known as the Mark 1, was unveiled during a September 28 event at the Boca Chica test facility, when Musk said the company planned to launch the vehicle on a test flight within a few months.
According to CBSNews.