SpaceX Starship SN11 launch - As it happened: Elon Musk says Mars-bound rocket made ‘crater’

SpaceX Starship SN11 launch: confusion amid fog-shrouded flight test of mars-bound rocket.mp4

SpaceX has completed the fourth major flight test of a Starship rocket, which appears to have ended in a huge explosion once again.

Poor weather conditions at the launch site means it is still unclear what happened, but SpaceX boss Elon Musk said “something significant happened shortly after landing burn start” that resulted in a crater.

The attempt to launch and land a Starship rocket on Tuesday from SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility in Texas came less than four weeks after the last test ended in a fiery explosion.

Previous launch attempts on Friday and Monday were scrubbed - the first due to technical issues, the second as a result of an absent FAA inspector.

All three previous Starship flight test have ended in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, as SpaceX puts it, and a successful launch and landing would have been a major step towards realising Musk’s Mars ambitions.

SpaceX posted a live stream of the event a few minutes before it took place.

[30 March 2021 14:35 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Replays from NasaSpaceFlight’s footage has shed a bit of light on what happened.

There was a huge flash of light that illuminated the fog, followed by various bits of debris falling to the ground.

Here’s a freeze frame of the largest piece.

(NasaSpaceFlight)

[30 March 2021 14:39 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Elon Musk has confirmed the explosion.

“A high production rate solves many ills,” the SpaceX boss tweeted. “At least the crater is in the right place!”

[30 March 2021 14:40 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

More information from Elon Musk:

[30 March 2021 14:58 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Elon Musk has just hinted that SpaceX may attempt another Starship launch in a few days.

Local road closures are already in place with Cameron County for Friday, so we could see something then.

[30 March 2021 15:21 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Hopefully SpaceX has some footage that they can share with us at some point. Following the launches of SN8, SN9 and SN10, video from SpaceX’s landing pad cameras revealed close-up shots of the Starship coming into land.

Starship SN10 launched to 10km before performed a complex flip manoeuvre and landing on 3 March, 2020, in Boca Chica, Texas (SpaceX)

That will hopefully give us a better idea of what happened. But until we hear from SpaceX, there’s not much more we can bring you. Thanks for joining us, and maybe see you in a few days?

[31 March 2021 09:05 · Anthony Cuthbertson]