SpaceX May Be Failing to Get Starship Working at All

Last week, both stages of SpaceX's Starship exploded after returning from space. The Super Heavy booster flew apart as it attempted a landing burn over ground, and forty minutes later, the Starship vehicle itself disintegrated somewhere over the Indian Ocean. It was the Elon Musk-owned space company's ninth test of its megarocket, the development of which has been plagued by spectacular failures. Failure is part of the company's formula for success, but the prolonged series of comeupances may be very bad news, according to engineer-turned-journalist Will Lockett. "Dig a little deeper, and it's evident that SpaceX has hit an impasse," Lockett wrote in his newsletter. Reusability is the Starship's raison d'être. If the booster and spacecraft can safely perform multiple launches, the idea is that it'll save SpaceX — and its customers — invaluable time and money that it'd otherwise waste building new ones from scratch. Its other selling point is hauling a massive amount of cargo in one ... Read full article.