Launches of SpaceX’s giant Starship have been suspended by US aviation authorities due to the debris rained down on the local area by its maiden flight.
A six-mile plume of dust was reported to have showered the town of Port Isabel, 10 kilometres away, as the 119-metre rocket blasted off into the sky, coating vehicles and homes.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has grounded the rocket while it investigates the environmental impact of the launch, it has been reported.
Irrespective of the debut flight ending in failure, with an explosion of the huge interplanetary spacecraft almost 40km in the air, concerns have been raised about the potential environmental and social impact of the blast from 31-engines during take-off on local protected wildlife.
SpaceX’s Boca Chica take-off-and-landing site is located within the Las Paolomas wildlife management area, where Kemp's ridley sea turtles and birds such as the snowy and piping plover and ocelots nest on beaches.
Picture: Google Maps
In the application it needed to complete to gain an environmental permit for launches, SpaceX estimated debris would only be expected to fall within a 700-acre (less than 3km square) area surrounding the launch site.
But inhabitants of Port Isabel said the launch had felt like an earthquake, with windows shattered, with the Starship rocket and Superheavy booster the most powerful ever developed – twice as powerful as the launch vehicles built by NASA to take astronauts to the Moon in the 1960s.
A conservationist group, the Sierra Club, told CNBC: “Concrete shot out into the ocean, and risked hitting the fuel storage tanks which are these silos adjacent to the launch pad.”
A Musk fan four miles away said several of his vehicle’s windows were blown out by Thursday’s launch.
The most powerful liftoff rocket video I ever shot with estimated 12 million pounds of thrust & bowling ball concrete chucks from under the OLM at ballistic speed destroying this @GoPro but SD card survived! #SpaceX #Starship #ElonMusk #SuperHeavy #GoPro #destruction @maximum_Q pic.twitter.com/ywL5jgdFwY
— Scott Schilke (@SchilkeScott) April 22, 2023
Getting reports from multiple people now of “particulates” raining down in areas of Port Isabel after the nearby explosion of the SpaceX rocket stack Starship/Superheavy, 4 minutes after liftoff this morning from Boca Chica in the Rio Grande Valley. pic.twitter.com/Vb9ritd7JE
— Pablo De La Rosa (@pblodlr) April 20, 2023
The FAA has activated its environmental “anomaly response plan" and will coordinate with Texas wildlife officials.
Last year, a US Fish and Wildlife report found that SpaceX had significantly reduced bird populations in nearby habitats.
The rocket exploded less than five minutes after lift-off, leaving a large crater in the ground, with concrete ripped from Starship's launch pad and visible dents were found on metal fuel tanks.
The FAA is investigating whether the launch and the flight failure poses any threat to public safety. Carrying out a “mishap investigation” is part of standard practice, according to an email from the agency sent to media.
Some observers suggested the debris was just sand that had been blasted into the sky and carried on the wind.
In the aftermath, SpaceX fans were seen scavenging the area for scraps of metal that had been thrown hundreds of metres from the site.
While Musk hailed the take-off as a success, the explosion and bad news for one of his other companies led to its being one of the most expensive in history for the billionaire.
Crater McCrater face underneath OLM . Holy cow! #SpaceX #Starbase #Starship #Superheavy pic.twitter.com/mgjefc3MNe
— LabPadre (@LabPadre) April 20, 2023
Launch pad before and after video is out!
Full flyover video link???? https://t.co/UGFk0NadCz pic.twitter.com/FYgQ1Rmuja
— RGV Aerial Photography (@RGVaerialphotos) April 22, 2023