Starship catches fire on launch pad, hindering Elon Musk’s ‘conquest’ of Mars

On June 19, a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded on a test stand in Texas. This is the latest failure in a series of “thorns” hindering billionaire Elon Musk’s ambition to conquer the universe.

Rocket explodes on test stand
According to video footage of the incident, the Starship rocket exploded suddenly while standing on the test stand at SpaceX’s Starbase base in Texas. The explosion created a giant fireball and billowing smoke.

According to Reuters, the rocket may have been conducting a routine “static burn” test of its engine before the explosion.

CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion could have been a failure of a specialized nitrogen tank.

“If the investigation confirms that the nitrogen tank was the cause, this would be the first time this design has failed,” Musk wrote on social network X.

SpaceX said no one was injured in the incident and is working with local officials to address the situation. The company called the incident a “serious anomaly” as the rocket program prepares for its 10th flight test.

SpaceX had hoped to launch Starship in the coming weeks if the test was successful. However, the incident has forced the plan to be put on hold.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded while standing on the test stand on June 19. (Photo: Rocket Future).
Previously, the Starship spacecraft has encountered problems during ground tests and static combustion tests. In 2016, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded while being fueled, a rare failure for the rocket type that currently has a 99% success rate in missions.

Is the ambition to conquer Mars feasible?
The consecutive failed tests of the Starship spacecraft have many people questioning billionaire Elon Musk’s ambition to conquer Mars.

Starship is a spacecraft system that carries the long-term strategic ambition that Mr. Musk has outlined, which is to serve the Artemis program to send people to the Moon, and further, to settle humanity on Mars by the end of this decade.

Accordingly, billionaire Musk said SpaceX aims to make the first manned flight to Mars in 2026, with a Tesla Optimus robot on board.

“Two years after that, we will send humans, if the initial missions are successful,” Mr. Musk said.

SpaceX has huge ambitions for Starship and Mars. (Photo: SpaceX).
However, many experts believe that the success rate of the Mars plan is not high. Mr. Musk himself once said that the possibility of Starship reaching Mars in 2026 is “50/50”. But with a series of consecutive incidents like the current one, this rate may need to be adjusted.

Since the beginning of the year, the three most recent Starship flights, including Flight 7 (January), Flight 8 (March), Flight 9 (May) have all encountered problems and failures at different levels.

Mr. Musk once admitted that Starship is “an extremely complex and difficult system to control”. “I just hope to be able to do a flight without everything exploding. The recent ones have ended in explosions and that is really worrying,” he said.

The recent Starship rocket explosion incident occurred in the context of billionaire Musk’s business empire facing many difficulties. Electric car company Tesla saw a decline in revenue, while Mr. Musk’s personal and political “scandals” also negatively affected the brands of the companies he led.

After leaving the US Government Efficiency Board (DOGE) at the end of May, the world’s richest billionaire pledged to focus all his efforts on his business empire.

According to the Financial Times, Tesla’s board of directors has also established a committee to consider a new compensation package for the CEO to encourage him to work. There is even information that during Mr. Musk’s absence, the board of directors contacted recruitment companies to find a CEO to succeed Mr. Musk.

According to experts, at the present time, investors can breathe a sigh of relief with the “reappearance” of CEO Elon Musk. But in the near term, investor optimism will depend on whether Mr. Musk can actually improve the business situation.