WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration says it is investigating reports that debris from the failed Starship test flight landed, and caused property damage in, the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In a Jan. 17 statement, the FAA confirmed that it would require SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation for the Starship/Super Heavy test flight the previous day. On that launch, the Starship upper stage broke up late in its ascent.
“The FAA is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on Jan. 16,” the agency said. “There are no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos.”
The FAA did not elaborate on reports of property damage, but there have been online postings of people in the Turks and Caicos finding debris they believed were from Starship. That included the distinctive hexagonal tiles used in the vehicle’s thermal protection system.
“There are no reported injuries and reports of only minimal damage to property at this time,” the National Security Secretariat of the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands said in a Jan. 17 statement. It urged people who found debris to avoid handling it and contact government officials.
“Like many across Turks and Caicos Islands, I shared the concern caused by the outfall of debris and bright colors in the sky yesterday evening,” Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam, governor of the islands, a British territory, told a local publication Jan. 17. She said the government was working with the FAA as well as the U.K. Space Agency “to investigate and manage any potential risks.”
The FAA also confirmed in its statement that debris from the incident fell outside of designated areas. “During the event, the FAA activated a Debris Response Area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location. Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels while holding outside impacted areas,” the agency stated.
“A Debris Response Area is activated only if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas,” the FAA added. “It allows the FAA to direct aircraft to exit the area and prevent others from entering.”
According to aviation tracking services, several dozen aircraft altered their flight paths in response to the incident. That ranged from planes going into holding patterns until the airspace was reopened to flights that diverted back to their origin airports or to another airport.
SpaceX, though, stated that debris would not have fallen outside of designated zones. “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor – as all U.S. launches do to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water and in the air,” the company stated on the page devoted to the mission. “Any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.”
The company hasn’t provided additional details on what happened to Starship. SpaceX stated that during the Starship burn “telemetry was lost with the vehicle after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight. Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
“Data review is already underway as we seek out root cause” the company added. “We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.”