SpaceX Starship Explosions Impacted Nearly 500 Flights, Cost Carriers Millions

Mar. 17—When fiery debris from exploding SpaceX Starships rained down across the Atlantic and some Caribbean islands recently, air traffic controllers delayed and diverted nearly 500 flights to keep aircraft out of the danger zone.

All told, the rocket breakups in January and earlier this month caused 414 departure delays for aircraft at airports across Florida and the Caribbean and 80 diversions or holds for planes already aloft, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration. The costs for airlines and other aircraft operators were in the millions.

The Starship explosions, about seven weeks apart, resulted in the FAA activating pre-planned "debris response areas." The zones are meant to mitigate risks from falling debris associated with launches, re-entries or in-flight anomalies such as the Starship failures.

IN JANUARY: As Starship breaks up over Atlantic, falling debris causes commercial flight delays, diversions

Both the January and March explosions sent flaming chunks of SpaceX's stainless-steel Starships streaking across the evening sky in stunning displays captured in videos by witnesses on the ground, at sea and in aircraft.

The FAA had cleared Starship to fly again this month despite the fact the probe into the January mishap was still open. Now, it's grounded the craft again pending an investigation into the March 6 loss.

While no injuries were reported in either incident, the FAA said debris hit one vehicle on the ground in South Caicos Island after the Jan. 16 breakup. The back-to-back failures also have cast doubt on SpaceX's updated Starship, which has yet to complete a mission.

Jan. 16 explosion

The January flight ran into trouble shortly after separating from its lower-stage booster.

In the mission's bright spot, SpaceX notched its second-ever successful landing of the booster back at its Boca Chica Beach launch tower. The celebration was short-lived, though, as the company lost contact with the upper-stage Starship about 8 minutes into its flight.

The company led by CEO Elon Musk said fuel leaks resulting from vibrations "several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing," led to the explosion.

The FAA said it caused 243 flight departure delays, including 75 lasting for an hour or more. Controllers also held 12 airborne flights an average of 41 minutes.

FAA data from 2023 shows major passenger carriers spend an average of $11,515 per aircraft flight hour and cargo companies pay $30,779.

Using the lower passenger carrier figure, the 75 one-hour or longer delays and in-flight holds alone cost carriers a combined $958,048. It doesn't account for another 168 flight delays lasting less than an hour. Cargo company losses would be nearly triple that.

The FAA is overseeing the still-open SpaceX-led mishap investigation that also includes observers from NASA, Space Force and the National Transportation Safety Board.

March 6 explosion

After this month's launch, SpaceX again successfully landed the booster but, again, the upper-stage Starship quickly ran into problems.

This time, SpaceX said an explosion in the rear of the craft led to the loss of several engines. The company's livestream of the flight included views of Starship's engine bay with some engines completely missing.

The rocket was flying about 90 miles above Earth at about 12,600 mph when it began spinning and tumbling out of control. SpaceX lost contact with it 9 minutes and 30 seconds into the flight.

People from Florida to the Bahamas captured video of rocket parts streaking across the sky.

The failed mission caused 171 aircraft departure delays averaging 28 minutes. Controllers also diverted 28 flights from their routes and held another 40 flights an average of 22 minutes.

Those delays cost carriers at least $918,900 and the in-flight holdups cost nearly $169,000, totaling about $1.1 million.

The investigation into the latest failure is being led by SpaceX with the same group of observers overseen by FAA.

Increasing danger

While the chances are still relatively low, a January study in the journal Scientific Reports said the risk of collision between space debris and aircraft is increasing as more rockets are launched by commercial space companies like SpaceX and more objects reenter the atmosphere.

Beyond scheduled activities, there's the potential for pieces of space junk such as the 2,300 abandoned rockets currently in orbit to reenter the atmosphere and impact airspace.

"The number of launches each year and the number of rocket bodies abandoned in orbit are growing, as is the number of flights," the January report said. "The increase in launches is also connected to the deployment of satellite megaconstellations of thousands of satellites, such as SpaceX's Starlink, which will in turn lead to many uncontrolled reentries of satellites."

It cited a November 2022 incident involving a Chinese Long March 5B rocket body that reentered Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. It had been predicted to reenter over southern Europe, triggering warnings that delayed 645 flights an average of 29 minutes in Spain, France and Monaco.

A similar incident happened with a Long March 5B in May 2020. It streaked over Africa and the Atlantic, triggering temporary flight restrictions, and dropped a nearly 40-foot-long piece of piping on a village in Cote d'Ivoire.

There have also been multiple reports across several continents of parts from SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets surviving reentry and falling to the ground, including a February incident in which a tank from a Falcon 9 landed in Poland.

Using data from 2023, the study said the current probability of a collision between an aircraft and an abandoned rocket was 1 in 430,000 but called that a conservative estimate.

It said there's a 75% chance of uncontrolled space debris impacting busy airspaces around the world each year.

"Airspace authorities will face the challenge of uncontrolled reentries for decades to come," the report said.

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