Starship explosion raises questions about risk to public, environment

The latest disintegration of a SpaceX test flight was a spectacular sight, as broken-up rocket parts streaked like jellyfish tendrils across the Caribbean sky on Thursday evening. But some experts say focusing on that dazzling light show, as many people and media outlets did, highlights a lack of understanding of the environmental aftermath of these spacecraft failures. Moriba Jah, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas Austin, compares it to marvelling at the beauty of a nuclear bomb's mushroom cloud. "Being mesmerized by the magic of the debris [means] not realizing what it implies," Jah said. "This stuff can harm ecosystems, can affect populations." There is also the more immediate threat, illustrated by this incident, posed by several tonnes of flaming wreckage raining down on the waters and, though the odds are slim, maybe even on some unlucky patch of land. Thursday's test of Starship — which was made up of two parts, the upper stage Starship (in this case, Ship 33) and the lower stage Super Heavy Booster — lasted about eight and half minutes. In that time, audiences saw the most powerful rocket ever made successfully separate both stages, and an impressive "chopstick" catch of the Super Heavy booster.<br/>