'The problem,' he added, 'is that this is such a large rocket and it takes so long to get off the pad,' that the heat from the rocket's 33 engines 'possibly could melt the steel.' Scientist Philip Metzger, who previously worked for NASA on launch pad physics, said he thought the steel plate plan could have been 'a good solution.' Known for audacious goal-setting, Musk estimates that a next launch attempt could be carried out as soon as 'one to two months.' Such features come at a high price though, particularly when they have to stand up to the earth-shaking power of Starship.Īfter Thursday's test, Musk said that SpaceX had begun building 'a massive water-cooled steel plate to go under the launch mount.'īut it 'wasn't ready in time,' and engineers 'wrongly' calculated that the pad could still withstand the test. The Texas site also lacks what is known as a flame trench - tunnels which channel hot exhaust away from the pad. Those are used to flood the pad with water, cooling it and absorbing shock and sound waves. 'The main damage to the launch pad is underneath, where the flames impinge on the ground,' he told AFP, adding that repairing the crater 'will take several months.'ĭe Weck said that Starship's launch site, unlike others used for such large rockets, lacked a 'water deluge system.'

Olivier de Weck, a professor of astronautics and engineering at MIT, told AFP that 'the radius of debris and disturbance was probably bigger than anybody anticipated.'

'The force of the engines when they throttled up may have shattered the concrete, rather than simply eroding it,' Musk conceded Saturday on Twitter - another company in his portfolio. Photos of the launch site show the gigantic launch tower still standing while the rocket mount, which supports Starship before liftoff, damaged but still intact.īeneath it, however, lies a huge crater, images posted on social media showed. According to local press reports, a cloud of dust floated over a small town several miles (kilometres) away. Luckily for Musk, the 390-foot-tall (120-metre) rocket successfully lifted off, climbing for about four minutes until it tumbled and exploded, well over the Gulf of Mexico.īut SpaceX engineers may have underestimated the damage that Starship's 33 first-stage rocket engines would do.Ī few days later, the scene around the launch pad is one of desolation, an AFP photographer saw.ĭuring takeoff, SpaceX video showed a hail of debris being blasted as far as the Gulf of Mexico, over 1,400 feet (420 metres) away. SpaceX boss Elon Musk had said before the test that just getting Starship in the air without destroying its launch pad would be 'a win', Repairing the damage from Thursday's unmanned test flight is expected to take months, potentially delaying further launch attempts and slowing the development of a rocket NASA plans to use on its upcoming Moon missions. STARBASE, United States: Flying chunks of concrete, twisted metal sheets, craters blasted deep into the ground: the thunderous power of SpaceX's first test flight of Starship - the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built - inflicted serious damage on its Texas launch site. This photo from Apshows damage to the area around the launch pad in Texas of SpaceX's huge Starship rocket a test launch ended with the rocket's destruction

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