A “successful failure” business strategy that benefits Elon Musk’s company is illustrated most vividly by the dramatic explosion of SpaceX’s new Starship rocket minutes after it took off on a first flight test, experts said on Thursday.

Experts claimed the spectacular loss of the rocket ship will assist drive development of the vehicle rather than seeing the burning destruction of Musk’s enormous, next-generation Starship system as a negative.

Scroll down to see more advertising

The media’s coverage of the eagerly awaited launch was dominated by pictures of the Starship spinning out of control while attached to its Super Heavy rocket booster before the entire vehicle exploded.

SpaceX admitted that several of the Super Heavy’s 33 very effective Raport engines had problems during ascent and that the booster rocket and Starship had not been able to separate properly before the unfortunate voyage was aborted.

SpaceX admitted that several of the Super Heavy’s 33 very effective Raport engines had problems during ascent and that the booster rocket and Starship had not been able to separate properly before the unfortunate voyage was aborted.

Musk, the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of the California-based rocket business SpaceX, and other company officials applauded the test flight for accomplishing the main goal of getting the vehicle off the ground while also giving a lot of information that would improve Starship’s development.

THE ONLY WAY TO BE PERFECT IS BY PRACTICE

At least two planetary science and aerospace engineering specialists who talked with Reuters concurred that the test flight was successful.

“This is a classic SpaceX successful failure,” said Garrett Reisman, a professor of astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California and senior adviser to SpaceX. Reisman is a former NASA astronaut.

The Starship test flight was cited by Reisman as an example of a SpaceX strategy that distinguishes Musk’s business from more established aerospace firms and even NASA by “this embracing of failure when the consequences of failure are low.”

The rocket was launched from the Gulf Coast Starbase facility in south Texas without any astronauts on board, and it was nearly fully flown over water to prevent potential injuries or property damage on the ground from falling debris.

“Even though that rocket costs a lot of money, what really costs a lot of money are people’s salaries,” Reisman said in an interview with Reuters hours after Thursday’s launch.

Reisman claimed that by taking more risks during the development phase as opposed to having “a large team working for years and years and years trying to get it perfect before you even try it,” SpaceX ends up saving more money over the long term and identifying and fixing engineering issues more quickly.

Reisman stated that the timing for transporting individuals (aboard Starship) is currently expedited in comparison to how it was a few hours ago.

On the first flight of such a big, complicated launch system, planetary scientist Tanya Harrison, a fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Outer Space Institute, noted that clearing the launch tower and ascending past a crucial point known as maximum aerodynamic pressure were enormous feats.

She stated in an interview, “It’s a part of the testing process.” “There are a lot of accidents that occur when you’re attempting to construct a new rocket. Many folks were quite delighted that it even launched at all.

The hazards of a single flying test, according to her, pale in compared to the significant advantages at stake.

She said, “This is the biggest rocket that humanity has tried to build,” pointing out that it is intended to transport “orders of magnitude” more cargo and passengers to and from deep space than any current ship.

Harrison explained that Starship will carry back many tons of rock in addition to carrying dozens of astronauts and entire lab facilities to and from the moon and Mars, while NASA is working on a mission to retrieve samples of Martian soil and minerals measured in kilograms that the Mars Perseverance rover is collecting.

Starship, according to Musk, is essential to SpaceX’s interplanetary exploration objectives as well as its more immediate launch business. Commercial satellites, science telescopes, and eventually paying space travelers are anticipated to use the totally reusable rocket system to get to space.

Harrison remarked that “it wouldn’t surprise me if we had humans on Mars with Starship in the next decade.” He cited SpaceX’s quick rate of development since its foundation in 2002, which has led to dozens of commercial missions each year with its workhorse rocket for low-Earth orbit, the Falcon 9.

The post Elon Musk’s’successful failure’ formula is illustrated by the SpaceX rocket explosion appeared first on .