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SpaceX’s Starship booster, the first in the program’s history to successfully submerge gently into water, may have exploded after the test ended, a purported leaked image and fan analysis circulating on social media suggest. While SpaceX’s Starship tests are intended to test rockets to the point of failure and carry out subsequent upgrades, the firm has come under fire for its first three flights, which have often been described as failures due to their inability to avoid unintended explosions, or “Rapid Unscheduled”. Dismantling, as SpaceX calls it.
Now, a purported leaked image of the final moments of the fourth flight’s booster, along with analysis by a social media user, suggests that the booster may have exploded after flipping over at the end of its reentry profile.
Leaked image of Super Heavy Exploding Starship is probably real, suggests social media analysis
Avid SpaceX social media fans were taken aback yesterday after user X BocasBrain shared an image of the explosion of what could only be a Flight Four Super Heavy booster. The image showed an orange mushroom cloud visible from a buoy similar to the one used by SpaceX to capture final views of its rocket test.
Soon after the image was shared, X user mcrs987 under the name TheSpaceEngineer did a detailed analysis. Citing his knowledge of lighting and image editing, the user shared that judging by his distorted perspective and the square frame visible in the lower right, the image appeared to capture video footage running on the monitor. While admitting that the distortion could also be caused by the dual-lens cameras on the buoy, they added that the footage could also be distorted by water droplets, which also “crooked“booster descent footage.”
Also, the way the light from the explosion penetrates the buoy’s signal light.
This can be harder to detect if you don’t understand much about how light travels through materials. But that’s why this note wasn’t actually mentioned anywhere.… pic.twitter.com/SlLx25KFCi
— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) July 6, 2024
Next, the user tells that the light of the explosion is spread through the signal light of the buoy. According to them, “that would be quite challenging to mix “create a diffuse effect and the creators of the potentially fake image would leave”to extreme lengths like this would be an absolute dedication just to fool a lot of people.” Another piece of evidence that user mcrs987 admits may be evidence of a fake image is the clouds above the mushroom cloud. They seem to match the SpaceX footage of the booster landing and explosion perfectly”very visible reflection and glow on the clouds” is ” withstupidly difficult to replicate on a pre-existing image” according to the analysis.
A comparison with previous SpaceX starship explosions also shows that the color of the fireball in the alleged leaked image is quite similar. These details, combined with the FAA’s report on a previous Starship test, led mcrs87 to conclude that the Super Heavy’s descent path likely failed after it crashed into the water. The downpipe, the pipe that runs through the tanks and carries fuel to the engines, is a notoriously problematic part, and in 2022 the Starship’s booster was also damaged after it failed during testing.
It’s an update of where I believe the boostback shutdown is. pic.twitter.com/Zf4KzC2OQL
— LabPadre Space (@LabPadre) July 7, 2024
Details of infrasound data from the LabPadre shared amplifier on the X also show increased activity after the landing burn was turned off. This was the finalevidence that could put the final nail in the coffin” that mcrs87 was waiting for. User X seems to believe that the latest data set confirms the suspicion that the booster may have exploded when it pitched after landing, as the infrasound data contains “[t]echoes and spikes that are louder than what might be the burn on landing or the sonic booms of the vehicle on takeoff.”