Debris from SpaceX’s Starship, Elon Musk’s private space company, is being sold on eBay for thousands of dollars following the loss of launch vehicles in its first two test flights. SpaceX appears to have a relaxed approach regarding the retrieval of its spacecraft.
SpaceX Starship debris listed for sale on eBay
An eBay seller reported finding a piece of tile from the company’s latest launch attempt “floating in the water at the end of the jetties on South Padre Island.” After reporting to SpaceX via their “debris reporting hotline and email,” the company told the seller they could choose to “send the parts back or keep them.”
The seller decided to keep the debris, stating, “I counted that the three of us collected five pieces. There were some smaller parts, but I couldn’t reach them. We weren’t really looking for parts, they just floated by us while we were fishing.” The website found these tiles being sold on eBay for up to $7,500.
Known for its explosions and striking stainless steel exterior, SpaceX Starship’s underside is covered with 18,000 black silica-based hexagonal tiles, serving as a heat shield. Designed to withstand temperatures above 2,500 degrees, these reusable tiles were expected to remain intact even in explosions.
The tiles themselves hold no material value and are mainly considered as memorabilia. Despite being a successful enterprise with major contracts with NASA, SpaceX has yet to achieve any of the ambitious goals set by Musk for the company and has not reached the successes remembered by national space programs.
The spacecraft disintegrated upon re-entry over the Indian Ocean, leading to the inability of authorities to claim the debris, which resulted in finders selling the parts on the eBay shopping site.
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