"Big Improvement, Lots Of Good Data To Review": Elon Musk On Starship's Ninth Flight Test

In a setback for Elon Musk's SpaceX, the ninth Starship test flight exploded over the Indian Ocean just 30 minutes after the uncrewed rocket was launched into space from Starbase launch facility in Texas, NDTV reported.

Musk's dream of colonising Mars revolves around this ambitious project.

After liftoff, the Starship intended to launch a number of dummy satellites, but that plan was shelved because the rocket's door did not fully open. 

Musk acknowledged the technical problems and the mission's progress in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), but he also said the test was a "big improvement" and had provided them with "lots of good data to review."

"Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review," he wrote. 

However, Musk promised to accelerate the Starship development, saying, "Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster - approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks".

The billionaire CEO was supposed to give a livestream presentation about "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary" after the test flight, giving an update on his space exploration goals from Starbase. He had yet to deliver the speech hours later.

Musk's Mars Mission

The main component of Musk's plan to send humans to Mars is the 400-foot (122-meter) reusable Starship rocket system.

Launched from SpaceX's Starbase in Texas, the rocket travelled farther than the two earlier attempts this year.

However, instead of making the planned controlled splashdown, SpaceX lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster during its descent before it lost control and crashed into the sea.

Starship, continued into suborbital space, but about half an hour into the mission, it started to spin uncontrollably and crashed into the Indian Ocean.

The errant spiraling occurred after SpaceX cancelled an attempt to launch eight simulated Starlink satellites into space due to a malfunction with the rocket's "Pez" candy dispenser mechanism.