A Starship (SpaceX) engine test caused a huge fire

This Thursday, September 8, SpaceX had organized an engine test of its giant rocket Starship (prototype 24) based on Boca Chica, and unfortunately, not everything went exactly as planned. At instant “T” of the ignition of the 6 Raptor engines, the power of the release projected superheated dust and burning debris over several hundred meters, up to the nearby vegetation. What happened was to happen: this debris literally ignited the plants dried up by several months of a historic heat wave. The fire then quickly grew to the point of spreading over several dozen hectares. Boca Chica firefighters finally came to grips with the flames much later that night.

This is already the second time that a Starship engine test has caused a fire, but the first disaster (in 2019) did not cause as much damage to the local flora. What undoubtedly provoke the ire of the environmental movements which had already opposed the installation of SpaceX in this region of Texas. As a reminder, SpaceX has still not given a fixed date for the next take-off test of its Starship, and it is not NASA’s recent setbacks with the SLS that will push Elon Musk to want to speed up…