SpaceX’s rockets may be cool, but their exhaust is, well, not. On Thursday during a test, one of the company’s rockets expelled superhot debris that started a literal dumpster fire.
The test was on SpaceX’s prototype Starship rocket. It only lasted about eight seconds, but it used all six of the rocket’s Raptor engines. The test itself was a success, but the exhaust from the rocket put out enough heat that when the dust settled, video showed small brush fires several hundred feet away from the pad. The flames even reportedly reached a SpaceX dumpster and caused the contents to catch on fire.
Crews were able to extinguish the flames before they reached any structures. However, there are environmentally sensitive areas surrounding the test site in Boca Chica, Texas, that were affected by the fire. According to Gizmodo, SpaceX was supposed to initiate 75 environmental mitigation actions at the site as part of permission to use it from the Federal Aviation Administration. One of those actions is to implement wildfire prevention measures — this incident raises the question of whether SpaceX has implemented those measures.
