Elon Musk shares ‘hottest video ever captured’ of Earth with Starship plasma field
- This video from Elon Musk shows a plasma field enveloping SpaceX rocket, Starship upon its re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere
- It launched and came back into Earth’s atmosphere on Thursday (14 March)
- The world’s biggest rocket was launched from a launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas
Published on Mar 14, 2024 at 9:27 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Mar 15, 2024 at 4:13 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
Check out this video from Elon Musk of a plasma field enveloping SpaceX rocket, Starship upon its re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
The SpaceX Starship rocket was seen enveloped by plasma as it came back into Earth’s atmosphere Thursday (14 March).
The world’s biggest rocket was launched from a launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
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It was the third and most ambitious test flight to date.
“Watch the super hot plasma field grow as Starship re-enters the atmosphere,” Musk said to caption the video he posted to X.
According to SpaceX’s live stream commentator: “This is the furthest and fastest that Starship has ever flown”.
This fact was met by cheers from the gathered, excited crowd.
However, the positivity was a mixed bag as SpaceX later confirmed it lost Starship after it fell to Earth.
It’s presumed to have landed into the Indian Ocean as planned.
What that likely means is that the Starship broke up as it came down and wasn’t able to perform a bellyflop at speed as planned.
The mission has already been deemed a success, getting well beyond the milestones achieved on the two previous test flights last year.
All 33 engines at the base of the booster fired up and took the vehicle to the anticipated staging point.
There the craft separated and pushed on into space.
The Ship completed powered ascent, shutting down its engines at the appropriate time before coasting around the Earth.
It was supposed to reignite its engine system to de-orbit, but controllers skipped this because the vehicle had a good trajectory.
You can see the vehicle moving its flaps to try to control the descent in the video above.
Then the signal fell over, as expected in such an extreme environment.
Today’s launch was a huge test of Elon Musk’s ultimate ambitions to get humans to Mars.
It was the third test for the Starship rocket.
SpaceX shared pictures of the fully stacked rocket system on X on Wednesday (13 March).
It measures an approximate 120 metres in height .
This is the 319th launch for Elon Musk’s SpaceX with one flight crew member accidentally catching this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Falcon 9 liftoff.
Previously SpaceX’s Dragon completed ‘splashdown’ as Crew-7 Mission returned to Earth.
Sadly two previous attempts to fly the uncrewed Starship spacecraft from Texas to Hawaii ended in high-altitude explosions.
Starship’s second flight test achieved a number of major milestones.
It provided invaluable data to continue developing Starship at speed.
Despite simply being ‘tests’, they are ways to put “flight hardware in a flight environment to maximize learning”.
SpaceX was hopeful for a more positive outcome this time, however, as this third launch tested a different route.
Ultimately they are working to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit.
It’s hoped that from there it can help humanity return to the Moon and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.
And spirits were high as SpaceX posted: “Weather is 70% favorable for today’s third integrated flight test of Starship.”
“Each of these flight tests continue to be just that: a test,” SpaceX said ahead of the launch attempt.
“They aren’t occurring in a lab or on a test stand, but are putting flight hardware in a flight environment to maximise learning.”
In a similar display, see the Falcon 9 lighting up the sky ahead of returning to Earth.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
