Starship’s first liftoff toward space created the equivalent of a volcanic eruption in the launchpad, physicist finds

SpaceX is working to send the world’s most powerful rocket yet into space. On its first launch, the Starship-Super Heavy created a huge amount of heat and pressure.The amount was similar to a volcanic eruption, a planetary scientist said. 

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SpaceX has an immense force on its hands as it tries to send Starship-Super Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, into space.

In fact, the rocket is so powerful that its first launch in April created the equivalent of a volcanic eruption in the launchpad beneath it, according to Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida.

Rocks and other debris fly around remote cameras as SpaceX’s Starship lifts off atop its Super Heavy booster for the first time.

Joe Skipper/Reuters

When the rocket lifted off, it blasted a giant hole in its launchpad and kicked up soil and sand that rained down up to five miles away.

Metzger’s team of researchers asked Texas locals in the area to send in samples of that debris and sand for analysis, according to Florida public radio station WMFE.

Debris litters the Starship launchpad, with damaged fuel tanks visible in the background.

PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor / Getty Images

“What we found was that it’s comparable to a volcanic explosion,” Metzger told WMFE’s Brendan Byrne.

That’s because the rocket’s array of Raptor engines blasted so much heat and pressure into the launchpad that the concrete pad cracked. Then gas plowed into those cracks and boom! Suddenly the next town over was getting seasoned with material from under the launchpad.

Members of the public walk through a debris field around the Starship launchpad at SpaceX’s facilities near Boca Chica, Texas.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

“The pressure that was built up under the pad was equal to a volcano and the amount of gas mixed with the rocky material was comparable to volcano,” Metzger said.

SpaceX plans to launch Starship again this weekend, minus the volcano-like explosion

That first space-bound Starship launch ultimately ended with the rocket itself exploding in mid-air. It never got close to the edge of space.

SpaceX is trying again, with a second launch attempt scheduled for Saturday.

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the company has made thousands of adjustments to the rocket since that explosive first attempt.

One of those upgrades was to the launchpad. To make it more resilient to the Raptor engines, the company added what Musk called a “water-cooled steel sandwich” to the pad, in a live interview with journalist Ashlee Vance on X in June.

The new pad is fitted with two thick steel plates, as well as a water deluge system that operates like a “gigantic upside-down shower head,” Musk told Vance.

“It’s going to basically blast water upwards while the rocket is over the pad to counteract the massive amount of heat from the booster,” he said.

The launchpad is also now reinforced with 35,300 cubic feet of high-strength concrete, Business Insider previously reported. 

“I think they’ve completely solved the problem,” Metzger told WMFE. “We should not have a repeat of the volcanic eruption under a launchpad again.”

Musk has roughly estimated that Starship has about a 60% chance of successfully reaching space this time.

Whatever happens, on Wednesday Musk made one promise to his followers online: “Excitement guaranteed.”

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