The island was miserable by the rain of Starship missile debris

On January 16, right after the sun set, a spacecraft exploded into a fire bridge above the North Atlantic waters near the Turks and Caicos Islands. The upper floor belongs to SpaceX’s Starship system, the strongest missile has ever been built, broken into pieces a few minutes after taking off from South Texas during the 7th test flight, creating a rain of fragments piercing through the sky. Night, surprisingly for people who follow the beach and yacht.

According to Lori Kaine, residents of Providenciales, the main island of the Turks and Caicos Islands, she initially thought it was a plane exploding with deaf sound. The next day, Kaine saw the mysterious cable falling on the way to drive into the house. The broken hexagonal bricks are likely to belong to the Starship’s heat shield scattered along the way, leading the dog to walk and the nearby beach scattered many fragments.

Turks and Caicos, the territory of the UK 925 km southeast of Miami, including 40 islands, 8 islands among them, seemed to be the most affected area because the Starship fragments were broken. There were no reports on injuries due to the explosion, but many residents said the rocket part fell near the house and stranded along the beach near the tourist hot spot. There is even a case of vehicles destroyed in Nam Caicos.

The reaction to the accident of SpaceX faces many criticisms from residents in Turks and Caicos. The incident raises more broadest questions about the company’s Starship development method, the giant missile system that SpaceX hopes that someday can drive people to the moon and Mars as well as decide to launch the of the Vehicle testing flights in South Texas follow the crowded residential area.

After the Starship exploded, the Federal Aviation Administration blocked the airspace near Turks and Caicos in a short time. Currently, debris is found throughout the archipelago, according to the database from the Turks and Caicos Reef Fund environmental organization in conjunction with the US Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The corpse of the rocket stranded on each beach in Providative, from South Caicos to West Caicos, according to Alizee Zimmermann, CEO of Turks and Caicos Reef Fund.

Starship is still in the process of development and is prone to explosive risk. Unlike NASA and a number of competitors in the aviation industry, SpaceX applies the “fast repetitive development” tactic. This approach focuses on the manufacture of prototypes and takes the risk of increased risks in the company’s Starbase test flights located in the southernmost tip of Texas.

Previous Starship tests led to explosions above the Gulf of Mexico and many other waters. The first test mission of the vehicle exploded a launch pad in South Texas, causing debris to splash everywhere and criticized by environmental experts. However, the flight test on January 16 attracted attention because the close distance of Starship with the densely populated islands at the time of malfunction.

SpaceX confirmed that the “fast repetitive development” method allows engineers to learn and adjust the design of Starship with cheaper cost and faster based on traditional methods and ground testing. But that measure also regularly places SpaceX at the center of attention when the test flight does not take place as planned.

According to the FAA, the Turks and Caicos governments are reminded before the release of Starship that the country is in the area that may be in danger. Before the test flight took place, FAA asked SpaceX to map a dangerous area mapping enough to ensure the possibility of casualties for the community or ships not exceeding a million. They said there were no Caribbean Islands, including Turks and Caicos, exceeding this threshold.

Kaine said she started collecting debris from Starship after the explosion on January 16. She estimates that the number of debris collected and put in the garbage bag is up to 91 kg. Many other fragments are still scattered on the beach. But on January 17, Kaine found that exposure to debris could be dangerous. She was also worried that if left there, debris would soon be covered by sand, threatening the island’s ecosystem.

“Authorities confirm that there is no hydrazine on Starship missile. Hydrazine is a push fuel used on some spacecraft, which can cause vomiting, inflammation of nerve, even coma after contact. Instead, Starship rely on the push fuel is methane and liquid oxygen, but there are still countless chemicals inside, “Marlon Sorge, Deputy Director The Aerospace Corporation, said.

Starship is a launching system that is gradually proving the ambition to bring people to Mars for the first time of the CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk. This is the highest rocket (120 m) and the strongest ever made, capable of producing nearly 8,000 tons of thrust when launched.

This is the launch system including Super Heavy pushing layer and Starship spacecraft above. The push missile is located on the first floor and the spacecraft carrying people and goods is located on the second floor. The missile’s mission is to bring the Starship to an orbit, then the Starship will fly on its engine while the missile returns to the Earth. Both parts can be reused.

NASA chose the Starship to bring the astronaut to the Moon in the Artemis program. When the Starship ship the journey to the Moon, it will have to be in orbit near the Earth while SpaceX launches separate means of support for refueling for the ship. The mission to carry the astronauts landing on the moon will take place at the earliest in 2026.