Starship could create more debris than an anti-satellite test if it explodes in orbit

As Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, gears up for an attempt to finally reach Earth’s orbit, experts say the risk of an in-flight catastrophe – and a cloud of debris – “needs to be of concern”.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to launch the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster for the launch system’s 14th test flight and first orbital test flight later this month.

According to one aerospace expert, if the Starship’s upper stage explodes in orbit it could produce debris on a scale larger than previous in-orbit incidents, including an anti-satellite missile test.

During that test, in November 2021, Russia intentionally blew up a defunct Soviet intelligence satellite called Cosmos-1408.

Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, said the Russian test had detrimental consequences for the operation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation.

He said if Starship were to explode in orbit, it could create a lot of debris that could become hazards to other objects as well as humans.

“If something like that happened in low-Earth orbit, it would be like the Russian anti-satellite test, but probably a few scales larger in terms of the amount of debris it would generate,” Jah said.