After suffering a catastrophic failure during its sixth test flight, Elon Musk’s Starship program is now dealing with its third crippling incident in half a year. Regardless of these obstacles, Musk appears to be hopeful as he plans on future launches every three to four weeks.
The recent explosion followed Starship’s ninth test flight leading into the destruction of one of its rockets due to the malfunctioning of one out of thirteen engines. The situation worsened when debris from the broken rocket fell into the Indian Ocean resulting in devastating environmental harm. This failure also parallels several other silos of failure including two earlier this year which caused massive disruption for not just local populations but global air travel as well.
For over a decade, SpaceX has been developing the Starship spacecraft with the aim of achieving a fully reusable multistage rocket. This program aims for missions to the Moon, Mars, and other locations in deep space. Much of Musk’s vision relies on the ability to land large parts of the rocket and reuse them, something that he has been successful with on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicles. But the Starship program seems to be struggling to achieve any level of consistent success – out of nine test flights only three have been and multiple failures and partial failures raise questions about its long term viability.
While failure is an option for new space technologies being developed, cannot be overlooked concerns regarding catastrophic failures because it does not present any solutions for recovery. Additional criticisms have arisen due to the environmental consequences such as pollution and dispersed debris which also sparks outrage locally especially around SpaceX’s launch site in Texas, where communities attempt to freely coexist without risk of property damage or environmental exhaustion from failed launches. Other legal bodies like EPA and FAA are likewise irked by violations surrounding set boundaries published demonstrating things like lackadaisical regard towards legislation showcasing fines directed at SpaceX for breaching them which adds onto already existing friction as well as criticism towards their projects or programs aimed at futuristic products aimed at transforming society.
Regardless of the challenges he faces, Musk continues to focus on the pace of development. It is left unclear what the view is from other people’s lenses, but it is apparent that there are significant environmental consequences piling up along with failing milestones, leaving everyone to wonder whether or not SpaceX will live up to their expectations.
