WASHINGTON: SpaceX prepares for a critical test of its Starship megarocket on Sunday following multiple failures that have raised questions about its viability.
The world’s most powerful launch vehicle will lift off from the company’s Starbase in southern Texas at 6:30 pm local time for its tenth flight.
This mission will subject the upper stage to various trials during a halfway-around-the-world flight before its planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX will not attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower’s giant “chopstick” arms during this test.
Starship represents the cornerstone of Elon Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars while NASA plans to use a modified version as the Artemis lunar lander for returning Americans to the Moon.
All three test flights conducted so far in 2025 have ended with the upper stage exploding.
Two explosions occurred in fiery cascades over Caribbean islands while another happened after reaching space.
Another upper stage exploded on the ground during a “static fire” test in June.
SpaceX’s “fail fast, learn fast” philosophy has historically contributed to its remarkable track record and global launch leadership through its Falcon rocket family.
The Starship setbacks have generated doubts about whether the company can replicate that success with history’s largest and most powerful rocket.
Dallas Kasaboski, a space analyst for consulting firm Analysys Mason, told AFP that recent failures were diminishing SpaceX’s golden reputation.
“I think there is a lot of pressure on this mission,“ he said.
“We’ve had so many tests and it hasn’t proven itself reliable — the successes have not exceeded the failures.”
Will Lockett, a former engineer turned commentator, argued that the absence of heavy payload tests indicated fundamental flaws in Starship’s concept.
“SpaceX is building Starships that are lighter in an attempt to increase payload to usable levels but is therefore making them much weaker than they should be” — leading to structural failures seen during recent tests.
Media scrutiny has intensified with headlines such as “Is Elon Musk’s Starship Doomed?” in New York Magazine.
Musk has committed the company’s future to Starship with plans to eventually retire current rockets and spacecraft in favor of the new system.
Even a successful tenth test would leave formidable technical challenges unresolved.
These challenges include achieving full and rapid reusability at low cost and demonstrating the ability to refuel super-cooled propellant in orbit for deep-space missions.
SpaceX continues advancing its program by increasing launch frequency despite environmental concerns and constructing new Florida facilities including launch and landing pads at Kennedy Space Center. – AFP