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SpaceX Starship destroyed during cryo test but the next ship is already on the way

LabPadre's 24/7 livestream captured Starship SN3's final moments in spectacular detail. The cause of the ship's failure is unknown. (LabPadre)

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5 years ago

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SpaceX’s third full-scale Starship prototype has followed a little too closely in the footsteps of its predecessors, suffering a catastrophic failure during its first cryogenic test.

On April 2nd, SpaceX successfully put Starship SN3 through an ambient temperature pressure, allowing the ship to take its first breaths and ensuring that no leaks were present in its massive propellant tanks. Just a handful of hours later, Starship SN3 began its first attempted cryogenic proof test. Neutral liquid nitrogen was loaded into the ship’s liquid oxygen (LOX) tank for a brief period before SpaceX aborted the test due to frozen valves in the ground support equipment (GSE) tasked with feeding the rocket — confirmed by CEO Elon Musk around 7:30 pm PDT.

Around six hours after the first attempt, SpaceX presumably managed to alleviate GSE valve issues and began Starship SN3’s second attempted cryogenic proof test around 11pm local (04:00 UTC). While things started out somewhat normally, they did not end well for the rocket prototype.

The shiny aftermath of Starship SN3’s test failure. (LabPadre)

For unknown reasons, SpaceX began the second cryo test attempt by only loading Starship’s upper (LOX) tank with supercool liquid nitrogen. Given that Starship is constructed out of stainless steel sheets only slightly thicker than two US quarters, the lower (methane) tank would have almost certainly had to be pressurized, too, likely relying on gaseous (ambient temperature) nitrogen. Already, for a rocket built out of near-continuous metal, that temperature differential could pose a major problem.

Still, for the better part of three hours, things seemed to go exactly as planned, with the rocket venting dozens of times and the upper tank visibly developing a coating of frost as it began to freeze the water vapor right out of the humid Texas air. Alas, around 2:07am local (07:07 UTC), things took a turn for the worse. The unfilled methane tank below the now-LN2-laden LOX tank appeared to crumple, beginning at a small dent that appeared over the course of the test. Gravity took over a few seconds later, further crumpling the methane tank and causing the top-heavy rocket to tip over and the LOX tank to burst.

While admittedly from the armchair, not a lot of this particular failure makes sense. If the bottom methane tank were significantly pressurized with gaseous nitrogen, a rapid loss of structural integrity would have likely been a far more violent ordeal as the gas attempted to escape. Instead, the failure was – relative to the possibilities – extremely gradual. In fact, it almost appeared as if the bottom methane tank was either never actually pressurized or not pressurized nearly enough to withstand the weight of several hundred tons of liquid nitrogen. Given SpaceX’s expertise and familiarity with rocketry, that option thankfully seems vanishingly unlikely.

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All other possible explanations are at least as hard to parse, leaving it up to SpaceX or CEO Elon Musk to clarify what transpired if they choose to do so.

A steel Starship ring is transported on March 31st. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
On April 2nd, SpaceX began integrating Starship SN4’s upper LOX tank dome with three steel rings. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

On a more positive note, SpaceX has continued to churn out steel rings and bulkheads and assemble them into sections of Starship SN4 – the rocket’s next full-scale prototype – for the last two or so weeks. If Starship SN1, SN2, and SN3 are anything to go by, the fourth full-scale Starship prototype could be ready to head to the pad for testing just a handful of weeks from now, picking up where Starship SN3 left off. Thankfully, the latter rocket’s April 3rd failure appears to have been relatively benign as far as pad hardware goes, likely requiring minimal repair work to be ready for its next test campaign.

While unfortunate, it’s critical to remember that this is all part of SpaceX’s approach to developing new and unprecedented technologies. Be it Falcon 1, Falcon 9 booster recovery, or Falcon 9 fairing recovery, all groundbreaking SpaceX efforts have begun with several consecutive failures before the first successes – and the first streaks of consecutive successes. Given Musk’s September 2019 claim that SpaceX is putting just ~5% of its resources into Starship, prototypes like Mk1, SN1, and SN3 are being fabricated for pennies on the dollar.

As a schedule setback, SpaceX is building ships so quickly that any single prototype failure shouldn’t cause more than a handful of weeks of delays, and the goal is to produce an entire Starship every week by the end of 2020. For now, SpaceX will hopefully learn from each failure during developmental testing and roll those lessons learned into each future prototype.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state

This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.

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22 minutes ago

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September 11, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has landed a regulatory green light to test its Robotaxi platform in a new state, less than three months after the ride-hailing service launched in Texas.

Tesla first launched its driverless Robotaxi suite in Austin, Texas, back on June 22. Initially offering rides to a small group of people, Tesla kept things limited, but this was not to be the mentality for very long.

It continued to expand the rider population, the service area, and the vehicle fleet in Austin.

The company also launched rides in the Bay Area, but it does use a person in the driver’s seat to maintain safety. In Austin, the “Safety Monitor” is present in the passenger’s seat during local rides, and in the driver’s seat for routes that involve highway driving.

Tesla is currently testing the Robotaxi platform in other states. We reported that it was testing in Tempe, Arizona, as validation vehicles are traveling around the city in preparation for Robotaxi.

Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market

Tesla is also hoping to launch in Florida and New York, as job postings have shown the company’s intention to operate there.

However, it appears it will launch in Nevada before those states, as the company submitted its application to obtain a Testing Registry certification on September 3. It was processed by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles Office of Business Licensing on September 10.

It will then need to self-certify for operations, essentially meaning they will need to comply with various state requirements.

This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.

CEO Elon Musk has stated that he believes Robotaxi will be available to at least half of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Geographically, Tesla will need to make incredible strides over the final four months of the year to achieve this.

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Tesla is improving this critical feature in older vehicles

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3 hours ago

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September 11, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is set to improve a critical feature that has not been present in older vehicles with a new update.

Tesla vehicles feature a comprehensive suite of driver assistance features, some of which aid in driving itself, while others support the vehicle’s surroundings.

One of those features is that of Driver Visualization, and with the rollout of a new update, owners of Intel-based Tesla vehicles are receiving an upgrade that will come with a simple software update.

Tesla plans to use Unreal Engine for driver visualization with crazy upgrade

The update will provide new visualizations while Intel-based vehicles are in reverse, a feature that was not previously available, but will be with Software Update 2025.32.2.

The improvement was spotted by Not a Tesla App via TheBeatYT_evil:

Previously, vehicles Tesla built were equipped with Intel-based processors, but newer cars feature the AMD chip, which is capable of rendering these visualizations as they happen. They were capable of visualizations when driving forward, but not in reverse, which is what this change resolves.

It is a good sign for those with Intel-based vehicles, as Tesla seems to be paying attention to what those cars are not capable of and improving them.

This was an undocumented improvement associated with this particular update, so you will not find any mention of it in the release notes that Tesla distributes with each update.

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Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

Published

4 hours ago

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September 11, 2025

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla is looking to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market, as the company was spotted testing validation vehicles in one region where it has not yet launched its ride-hailing service.

After launching Robotaxi in Austin in late June, Tesla followed up with a relatively quick expansion to the Bay Area of California. Both service areas are operating with a geofence that is expansive: In Texas, it is 173 square miles, while in the Bay Area, it is roughly 400 square miles.

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

There have been plenty of reports out there that have speculated as to where Tesla would land next to test Robotaxi, and Nevada, Florida, Arizona, and New York have all been in the realm of possibility. These regions will need to approve Tesla for regulatory purposes before Robotaxi can officially operate.

Tesla is still testing and performing validation in several regions, and in Tempe, Arizona, things are moving forward as a Model Y with a LiDAR rig was spotted performing ground truth for the platform:

With the LiDAR unit, many followers of the self-driving and autonomy space might wonder why Tesla uses these apparatuses during validation, especially considering the company’s stance and vision-based approach.

LiDAR is used for “ground truth,” which is basically a solidification or confirmation of what the cameras on the car are seeing. It is a great way to essentially confirm the accuracy of the vision-based suite, and will not be used on Robotaxi units used within the ride-hailing suite.

The Robotaxi platform was made available to the public earlier this month, as Tesla launched its app for iOS users.

Tesla Robotaxi app download rate demolishes Uber, Waymo all-time highs

Downloading the app allows you to join a waitlist, giving you the opportunity to utilize and test the Robotaxi platform in either Austin or the Bay Area.

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