SpaceX 'Starship' meets fiery ending in test flight

But Elon Musk says scientists got all the data they needed

SpaceX's bullet-shaped Starship prototype exploded and disappeared in a ball of flame on Wednesday, while attempting to land after its test launch.

SpaceX launched the vehicle from its rocket facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Despite the disastrous ending of the six-and-a-half-minute test, CEO Elon Musk appeared quite satisfied with the outcome of the test flight.

"Mars, here we come!!" he tweeted just minutes after the landing mishap, hailing the ascent phase a success.

Musk said that the rocket's "fuel header tank pressure was low" during descent, which led to high touchdown velocity.

The SpaceX founder revealed that the Starship team had received all the data they needed before the crash.

The vehicle was intended to reach an altitude of 12,500 metres in the test flight, though neither Musk nor SpaceX confirmed whether it had done so. However, it was the highest flight yet for the Starship, which Musk says could carry people to the Red Planet.

SpaceX said that Starship "successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and performed its landing flip manoeuvre with precise flap control to reach its landing point".

SpaceX previously made its first attempt to launch Starship on Tuesday, but an issue with its Raptor engines forced an automatic abort just one second before lift-off.

The Starship rocket that crashed in the explosion on Wednesday was a 16-storey-tall prototype.

The test was planned to check the massive metal body of Starship Number 8 (SN8), and the performance of rocket's three engines.

Smaller prototypes have already undergone test flights as part of SpaceX efforts to develop the next generation of rockets.

Starship is SpaceX's next-gen spacecraft, designed with the aim of creating a vehicle that would be able to serve the needs of the current as well as future customers. Starship is expected to eventually replace both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which SpaceX is currently using for space missions.

Musk also expects Starship to play a key role in achieving his ambitious goal of reaching Mars and establishing a human colony on the planet.

SpaceX wants to launch the first commercial Starship flight by 2021. However, to meet that deadline, the company first needs to demonstrate that it is capable of sending its spacecraft to orbit.

In August 2019, SpaceX test launched its single-engine Starhopper prototype, which completed a short flight from the company's Boca Chica test facility. During that test, Starhopper hovered 152 metres above the ground and moved sideways before slowly landing back on a nearby landing pad. The entire test lasted for 57 seconds.