In a test flight in Texas on April 20, SpaceX's Starship spacecraft, which was intended to transport astronauts to the Moon and Mars, exploded minutes after takeoff. According to a statement from SpaceX, the spacecraft "experienced multiple engines out" during its ascent, then "lost altitude and began to tumble," before the "flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and the ship." Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX, has now said that the spaceship might be prepared for a relaunch in "six to eight weeks."
According to a CNN story, the billionaire claimed on Twitter Spaces on Saturday night that when the Starship's engines reached "full thrust," 30 out of 33 of them had ignited for the flight test, they "probably shattered the concrete." Further, he said that he was "glad to report that the pad damage is actually quite small," and that it would take "six to eight weeks" to put the necessary infrastructure in place for a new launch.
"The outcome was roughly in (line) with what I expected and, maybe slightly exceeded my expectations," the CEO of the company said, as per the outlet.
According to the outlet, the spacecraft's flight termination or self-destruct mechanism was triggered, causing the launcher and spacecraft to explode over the Gulf of Mexico. The component that was supposed to blow up the rocket and "ensure it didn't careen off course" took longer than expected, according to the billionaire, thus the flight termination system would need to be recertified. That might have an impact on how quickly the business can put a new Starship on the launch pad.
"The vehicle structural margins appear to be better than we expected. As we can tell the vehicle is actually doing somersaults towards the end and still staying intact," Elon Musk said.
It should be emphasised that the US government's Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is in charge of the inquiry. SpaceX is not allowed to launch another Starship vehicle until that evaluation is finished. Furthermore, it is unclear how long it would take. "We aren't going to speculate on timelines. Safety will dictate the timeline," FAA said, as per the outlet.