Latest news with #Starships
Los Angeles Times
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mexico threatens to sue Musk's SpaceX over contamination from exploding rockets
Mexico City — A small Texas town just across the border from Mexico is the testing ground for Starship, the hulking spacecraft that Elon Musk hopes will one day ferry people to Mars. In recent months, multiple test launches have ended in explosions, causing debris to rain down on both countries and in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexican scientists say the wreckage is killing wildlife, including dolphins, sea turtles and fish. Amid growing pressure from her constituents, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that her government is investigating the 'security and environmental' impacts of Musk's rockets and has found that 'there is indeed contamination,' a charge Musk's company denies. Sheinbaum said her government is trying to determine whether SpaceX has violated international laws and said Mexico will file 'necessary lawsuits.' Her statements come amid hightened tensions between the U.S. and Mexico on security, migration and the economy. President Trump's new tariffs on Mexican imports and threats of U.S. drone strikes on cartel targets have sparked a surge of nationalism here. Musk, a billionaire who is also the CEO of Tesla and the owner of X, is closely allied with the U.S. administration, having donated more than a quarter billion dollars to help elect Trump. For several months this year he was the informal head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. SpaceX said in a post on X that independent tests performed on the material used in Starships confirm that it 'does not present any chemical, biological or toxicological risks.' The company said it attempts to recover all debris from exploded devices. U.S. groups have also blamed SpaceX rockets for environmental degradation. The company's Starbase launch facility in South Texas abuts the Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge, an expanse of tidal flats, mangroves and sand dunes that is home to rare and endangered species including ocelots, sea turtles and northern aplomado falcons. A coalition including the Sierra Club and a local Native American tribe sued the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, alleging the agencies approved test launches without conducting thorough environmental reviews. They say failed rocket launches have spread concrete and metal debris across thousands of feets of surrounding lands — and once set off a fire that burned several acres of protected dunes. In Mexico, environmentalists began raising alarm earlier this year after space debris was discovered in the border city of Matamoros, in the Río Bravo — as Mexico calls the Rio Grande — and in the Gulf of Mexico. A local NGO in the state of Tamaulipas issued a report documenting animal deaths in a region known as a nesting ground for manatees, sharks, whales and other animals. It warned particularly about risks to sea turtles who ingest particles of space debris. The group said it had collected more than a ton of debris scattered along an area more than 25 miles long. The governor of Tamaulipas said authorities were also looking into the issue. Gov. Américo Villarreal Anaya said his government will verify whether 'the internationally required distances are being respected in order to have these types of facilities so that there is no risk to urban centers.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why is Mexico threatening to sue Elon Musk over SpaceX debris?
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to sue Elon Musk's SpaceX over falling debris from a rocket launch across the border in the United States. SpaceX said its efforts to recover debris from Mexico had been hindered by 'trespassers'. Here is more about what is happening between Mexico and SpaceX. A SpaceX 'Starship' rocket, part of Musk's project to send humans to space, exploded in a giant fireball during a routine launch test in Texas on June 19. Starship rockets are 120 metres (400ft) tall and made primarily from stainless steel. The rocket, called the Starship 36, went through 'catastrophic failure and exploded' at the Starbase launch facility at 04:00 GMT, according to local Cameron County authorities. The facility is located at Starbase, formerly called Boca Chica Village, in Cameron County, Texas, close to the US-Mexico Wednesday this week, Sheinbaum told her morning news conference that 'there is indeed contamination' which has been detected in Mexico in the aftermath of the SpaceX explosion. She said Mexican officials are conducting a review of the environmental effect caused to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, a little more than 300km (190 miles) from Starbase. Tamaulipas governor, Americo Villarreal Anaya, said authorities were examining 'the internationally required distances are being respected in order to have these types of facilities, so that there is no risk to urban centres', according to a report in The New York Times. 'We are reviewing everything related to the launching of rockets that are very close to our border,' said Sheinbaum. She added that Mexico is currently trying to determine whether international laws had been violated so it can file 'the necessary lawsuits'. In an X post on Thursday, SpaceX claimed its attempts to recover the fallen debris from Mexican territory had been hindered. 'Despite SpaceX's attempts to recover the anomaly related debris, which is and remains the tangible property of SpaceX, these attempts have been hindered by unauthorised parties trespassing on private property,' the X account wrote. It did not clarify who these parties were or where they were 'trespassing'. SpaceX also said there were 'no hazards to the surrounding area' from the rocket debris. 'Previous independent tests conducted on materials inside Starship, including toxicity analyses, confirm they pose no chemical, biological, or toxicological risks. 'We have requested local and federal assistance from the government of Mexico in the recovery,' it added. In May, the Federal Aviation Administration in the US granted SpaceX permission to increase the number of Starships it launches each year from five to 25. Later that month, a Starship prototype exploded over the Indian that, two Starships broke into pieces after launching from Texas during test flights in January and March. In January, airlines were forced to divert flights to avoid falling January this year, a red-hot 500kg (1,100lb) metallic object fell onto a village in Kenya's Makueni county, 115km (70 miles) southeast of Nairobi. The Kenyan space agency said the debris was a fragment of a space object. On Monday, March 3, the Australian Space Agency released an advisory that a Russian rocket making re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere was expected to fall into international waters off the southeast coast of Tasmania, causing a 'sonic boom'. However, the following day, the agency said it had 'monitored a space debris re-entry over the southeast coast of Tasmania' but was 'unaware of any reports or sightings of the debris'. The likelihood of space debris posing a danger to people, aircraft or the Earth, in general, is very low. However, recent studies show that the amount of space debris falling to the ground is on the rise. A study by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada, published in Scientific Reports in January 2025, found that uncontrolled re-entries of rocket bodies or space debris into the Earth are on the rise and may pose an increased risk of collision to aircraft. Another study, called The Space Environment Report, released by the European Space Agency (ESA) in March this year, found that at least three 'intact', human-made objects fall back onto the Earth every day. This is besides the several fragments of space debris that fall onto the Earth. NASA has warned that there are millions of pieces of space debris low in the Earth's orbit, but there are no international space laws about cleaning up this debris. Currently, individuals on the ground are not at a high risk of being hit and injured by space debris re-entering the Earth. The US nonprofit space corporation, Aerospace, estimates this risk to be less than a one-in-one-trillion chance.
New York Post
19-06-2025
- Science
- New York Post
SpaceX Starship explodes into enormous fireball during routine test at Texas facility
Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship exploded into an enormous fireball on Wednesday night during a routine test for an upcoming launch, as nearby residents recalled their homes shaking from the blast. The fiery blowup happened just after 11 p.m. local time as the Starship crew was preparing for the tenth flight test of Ship 36 at the Texas Starbase site near Boca Chica Beach. Officials reported a 'major anomaly' took place as the reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle was stationed on a test stand. 7 SpaceX Starship ship 36 explodes during a test in Texas on June 18, 2025. NASASpaceflight/YouTube A live stream of the SpaceX facility captured the moment of the explosion. In the footage, the initial fireball appears to come from the top of the rocket before the screen turned white from the dramatic change in lighting ripping through the otherwise dark night sky. The gigantic explosion scattered debris around the test site area, as the Starship and test stand were no longer seen in their vertical, upright position. SpaceX officials confirmed a safety zone had been in place and all staff are accounted for with no reports of any injuries. 'Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials,' the company said on X. 7 The massive fireball rushes into the night sky near Boca Chica Beach, Texas. NASASpaceflight/YouTube 7 Debris is scattered around the test site as flames shoot up into the air. NASASpaceflight/YouTube SpaceX reported residents in the nearby communities did not face any hazards due to the explosion. Residents living near the facility say they felt their explosion from their homes. 'Our whole neighborhood felt it and all the neighbors went outside to see what had happened because it shook all the houses …. my brother-in-law thankfully worked during the day shift,' Brownsville resident Arely Cantu told My San Antonio. Starbase is about 22 miles east of Brownsville. Another resident, Juan Martinez, said he heard the 'huge boom' as he watched the test from a nearby beach. 'Be safe and contact your family members that work there,' Martinez said in a Facebook post. 7 The fiery blowup happened just after 11 p.m. local time as the Starship crew was preparing for the tenth flight test of Ship 36 at the Texas Starbase site. NASASpaceflight/YouTube The fire continued to burn for two hours after the explosion. Wednesday night's explosion is the latest disaster to plague the private space company's exploration efforts. During the ninth test flight in May, the Starship blasted off into orbit but burned up as it fell back into the Earth's atmosphere. The loss followed a series of back-to-back failures of the seventh and eighth Starships. On March 6, Starship suffered an explosion 10 minutes into its flight, but its Super Heavy boosters were successfully caught. 7 Wednesday night's explosion is the latest disaster to plague the private space company's exploration efforts. NASASpaceflight/YouTube 7 The fire continued to burn for hours after the explosion. NASASpaceflight/YouTube Officials reported several engines stopped working just 20 seconds before the end of its ascent burn in during the test flight. In January, a propellant leak during Starship's ascent caused the rocket to break apart and explode. Despite the failures, both missions saw success in guiding the Super heavy boosters back to the Texas launchpad, where they were caught with the so-called 'chopsticks' or 'Mechazilla' mechanical arms. Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, saving SpaceX significantly on cost and resources, which would aid the company in reaching its ultimate goal of pioneering travel to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has not publicly commented on Wednesday night's explosion.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Explosives topple ULA launch complex towers to make room for SpaceX Starships at Cape Canaveral
Following a quick succession of orange-flamed explosions, United Launch Alliance's mobile service tower and high-reaching lightning towers toppled to the ground Thursday, June 11, at historic Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The demolition clears room for SpaceX to build new launch pads, landing pads and surrounding infrastructure for enormous Starship-Super Heavy rocket systems — which could start rumbling to flight from Launch Complex 37 as soon as next year. "Shout out to the @SLDelta45 and @SpaceX for the clean and precision demolition operation!!! Cheers to the future!" SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev said in a tweet. Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral ULA previously launched Delta IV rockets from the complex. The 16th Delta IV Heavy triple-core rocket notched its final fiery liftoff in April 2024 on a National Reconnaissance Office mission, marking the last launch at the site. Now, SpaceX awaits key environmental and regulatory approvals from the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration to start launching Starships from the complex. A 176-page Air Force draft environmental impact statement spells out proposed new infrastructure at LC-37: Two integration towers, each measuring about 600 feet tall. Two concrete launch pads about 400 feet long by 400 feet wide. Two concrete landing pads, each measuring about 225 feet in diameter, with two Super Heavy first-stage-booster catch towers. These will stack up similar in size to the integration towers. Flame trenches and diverters to reduce acoustic and thermal energy during launches and landings. Utilities, propellant tanks, staging and storage buildings, water storage and stormwater ponds, lighting and other improvements. In addition, SpaceX would widen about seven miles of Phillips Parkway. Roughly four miles of this stretch lie on the Space Force installation, while the other three are on NASA's adjacent Kennedy Space Center. Crews would also widen and improve about one mile of Old State Road A1A. ULA's lease of LC-37 expired after that April 2024 Delta IV Heavy launch, and infrastructure at the launch site was turned over to the Air Force, said Emre Kelly, Space Launch Delta 45 media operations chief. "The (Air Force) does not intend to make a future leasing decision on SLC-37 until the Starship Environmental Impact Statement is complete and Record of Decision has been published," Kelly said in an email. Launch Complex 37 construction wrapped up in August 1963, three months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Six Saturn I and two Saturn IB rockets launched there during the 1960s before NASA deactivated and mothballed the complex by November 1971, according to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum. After lying dormant for more than two decades, crews built new infrastructure at the complex and the first Delta IV launched in November 2002. 'I have great feelings of nostalgia for that pad. I was fortunate enough to capture several Delta Medium and Delta Heavy launches from that pad. The Delta rockets were just beautiful to photograph," Indialantic space photographer Michael Seeley said after capturing demolition video and images. "And so, watching it topple, I was reminded of that. And I'm reminded that, with change comes opportunity. I'm interested to see what comes next,' Seeley said. For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter. Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@ Twitter/X: @RickNeale1 Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: ULA rocket towers demolished at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Int'l Business Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Cathie Wood's Ark Says Elon Musk's SpaceX Valuation Could Reach $2.5T by 2030, $12.8T by 2040
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood recently reiterated her bullish forecast for Elon Musk's Tesla company, expecting the stock price to reach a staggering £1,912 ($2,600) per share in five years. Earlier this week, Wood's firm made another bold prediction about Musk's SpaceX in a report created in collaboration with consulting firm Mach33. The report detailed that the rocket company will achieve an enterprise value of an astronomical £1.83 trillion ($2.5 trillion) by 2030. The $2.5 trillion valuation forecast would mean a 38% compound annual rate of return since SpaceX's £257.51 billion ($350 billion) funding round in December 2024. The Ark Invest report's bull case scenario forecasts SpaceX's valuation could reach £2.28 trillion ($3.1 trillion) by 2030, while a bear case predicts a £1.25 trillion ($1.7 trillion) or less in the same period, with each case having a 25% probability. The report leveraged a Monte Carlo simulation to arrive at the valuation forecasts. According to the report, SpaceX's business model works like a flywheel. It uses cash to construct rockets and satellites for orbital bandwidth and generates revenue from Starlink customers by offering them space-based internet connectivity. The revenue is then reinvested back into the business. The cash flows are eventually channelled towards Musk's plans for Mars. Starlink has over six million active connections across 140 nations as of June 2025. The report's base case trajectory indicates bandwidth growth by 30 times to 20,000 Terabits per second (Tbps) as the on-orbit mass of Starlink satellites grows by 13 times in five years. Ark Invest's analysis of data revealed that SpaceX could begin generating revenues of around £220.72 billion ($300 billion) annually when the Starlink constellation is completed around 2035. Once the Starlink constellation is completed, Ark Invest expects the company to sustain the satellites and boost investments in the Mars program. By then, SpaceX's Starship rocket is also likely to improve significantly, especially in terms of reusability, enabling more launch cycles with fewer vehicles while transporting the same payload amounts to orbit. Ark's analysis of Falcon 9 data revealed that Starship's turnaround time would fall at a constant rate of 27% as payloads transported to orbit double in value. Optimus Robots, Boring Machines Play a Critical Role in The Mars Program According to Wood's firm, Musk's Optimus robots and Boring Company machines were designed to develop infrastructure in extraterrestrial environments that could be used for colonization. Wood recently said that Tesla's Optimus robots are designed to ramp productivity and boost profitability. Musk told CNBC last month he expects Tesla to produce a million Optimus robots annually by 2030. The report assumes that Starships will leverage Mars-adapted Optimus robots, with the fleet 'growing to the millions' over time. The robust workforce will eventually be tasked to build infrastructure to support a permanent colony on Mars, and Ark expects productivity to improve over time. However, payloads to sustain early human habitation are expected to be complex and unlikely to 'meaningfully' add to SpaceX's book value. A previous Mach33 report noted it could cost £56.65 million ($77 million) per person to build and maintain a 'small' Mars outpost of 10 people with 152 metric tonnes of equipment and 950 cubic metres of volume. Over time, Mars is expected to account for a major chunk of SpaceX's enterprise value growth. For now, Ark expects SpaceX to dedicate a 'small' portion of its budget to the Mars mission until the Starlink constellation is complete. The investment firm added that investors might not witness much of a return on capital for a 'significant' period, considering the scale and long-term objective of the program. The report also set a 2040 forecast for SpaceX. The base case valuation was estimated at £9.41 trillion ($12.8 trillion), and a bull case forecast was as high as £10.66 trillion ($14.5 trillion). 'That extra spread represents a decade's worth of Mars optionality layered on top of a cash-rich Starlink core,' according to Ark. However, the estimates heavily rely on SpaceX's capability to make Starship a reliable interplanetary vehicle. Overall, the report said there is 'no guarantee' that Optimus will be capable of supporting infrastructure development within the modelled timeline. Disclaimer: Our digital media content is for informational purposes only and not investment advice. Please conduct your own analysis or seek professional advice before investing. Remember, investments are subject to market risks and past performance doesn't indicate future returns. Originally published on IBTimes UK Spacex Elon musk Space Mars
