Plastic, aluminum and tanks from the last Starship launch are reaching shores in the Gulf of Mexico across beaches in Tamaulipas.
A local mexican association are assessing the aftermath from the booster's explosion. They claim that the plastic residue has spread 40 km of shoreline, representing a negative impact on the marine ecosystem, local fishermen and small ships.
Most notably it could impact local conservation efforts to preserve the Lora sea turtle (Kemp's ridley sea turtle), an endagered species that recently nested on the beaches. The soon to hatch offspring could confuse debris with food.
It is believed the tanks belong to the fire extinguishing system of the booster.
The local association is calling for the mexican Environmental Protection agency to investigate and request SpaceX to remediate the contamination.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1l0rta7
41 Comments
Rapid unscheduled pollution of habitat doesn’t sound as fun for the people on the feed to say, I guess.
Ohhh a spacex related post and the mentioning of Gulf of Mexico. *grabs popcorn* 🍿
Such wonderful progress in relearning basics of rocketry known for half a century. What a groundbreaking mess.
Unexcusable. SpaceX should be doing everything possible to make sure they do minimal contamination and stop unnecessary pollution to our oceans and bodies of water.
Might as well call it the Gulf of Murica with all that corporate garbage floating around.
Do we still have any agencies left to investigate any of this?
How much money that town they just started have in the kitty? Maybe they should be on the hook for cleanup.
Free gas cylinders, who doesnt love free gas cylinders /s
I’ve never seen the Gulf look so…. American. I guess the name change makes sense in hindsight sight
I love space as much as the next person on this sub. But, this is a bit eye opening as to what launches can do to the environment. Makes me sad and kinda conflicted.
I have a question and I’m afraid I already know the answer to it. But is SpaceX required to clean up its own mess? Or is that for the local communities to do?
Not a problem, they will get fined by the Environmental Protec….OHHHH WAIT
Gulf of WHERE? (Elon should be made to clean all this up)
Ebay opportunity. Collectors would pay for that junk.
Just ignore all the other debris from other launches that end up other places, that aren’t space x
Breaking news: redditor takes pictures of trash before legally required and mutually agreed upon cleanup crews shows up to clean it up
How could Elon do this????
time for spaceX to have a cleanup session at the beach
and sell the scrap to collectors
Believe it or not, this is not as much trash as NASA used to leave. I would be more worried about the needles and drugs you find on the beach. Have you ever seen a bag of medical waste on the beaches. Scary crap. We need to find a better way of disposing of our waste. I would post the pic on X and ask them to send people to clean it up.
Rocket stages have been dropped in the ocean for decades and nobody has cared but when it’s a Musk company that causes the littering it’s horrible and evil. The hypocrisy here is strong.
Trashing our oceans in hopes to develop a new rocket is a prime example of how short sighted our species is.
“But other people do it too!” Isn’t a justification. Do you say that when you see someone littering at a park?
Seems to me, by Article VII of the [Outer Space Treaty](https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/outerspacetreaty.html), Mexico may hold the United States liable for damages and cleanup costs.
I imagine the US would pass the costs on to SpaceX.
Thank you for referring to it as the Gulf of Mexico.
Post these on eBay. People get the collectibles and you get paid to clean up. The area gets cleaned of debris. Win Win win
Gulf shrimp will have extra Musk flavor for a couple years.
I’m a bit bad at geography, the Gulf of where? Can’t find it on a map
/s
I would think that SpaceX would want all this back for study. Has anyone asked them to come get it? Sounds campy but I’m serious. You can tell a lot more about how something failed by seeing it.
i will NEVER call it the gulf of america, NEVER. i DON’T CARE what the STINKY CHEESE MAN says, I DON’T CARE. TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO!!!!!!
Keep gathering parts. If you learn to do sheet metal work you’ll be able to build your own rocket.
Wait until the science comes out that not only is all the trash from launches littering our planet, but the thousands of kilos DAILY of atomized metal dispersing in our upper atmosphere from re-entry of starlink satellites is going to ruin our atmosphere.
I’ve spent about 3 weeks total picking up trash off mexican beaches. Calling this a problem is laughable in comparison. Someone is looking for a payday
Well, I could be wrong but pic 5 looks like they’re headed up the beach to lay some hazmat eggs.
☢️ 🥚 🐢
I was on a plane to Puerto Rico when I looked to my side and saw space x debris falling next to us. That could’ve hit the plane. I love space but it really opened my eyes to the very little thought they have when it comes to public safety.
They should be responsible for all cleanup charges and their subsidies should be revoked for not cleaning the oceans of all their trash.
Who is paying to have this cleaned up? Earth cannot be a disposable wipe in this race for elsewhere.
SpaceX is responsible for the environmental cleanup. Hold musk liable.
Corporations inadvertently polluting the planet?
First I have ever heard about it.
/s, duh
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[CARE](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvft3qz “Last usage”)|Crew module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment|
|[COPV](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrdbq “Last usage”)|[Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_overwrapped_pressure_vessel)|
|[FAA](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfkq5k “Last usage”)|Federal Aviation Administration|
|[FCC](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfkq5k “Last usage”)|Federal Communications Commission|
| |(Iron/steel) [Face-Centered Cubic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_iron) crystalline structure|
|[HLS](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfq5mq “Last usage”)|[Human Landing System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Human_Landing_System) (Artemis)|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfu73t “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[LOX](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvftl61 “Last usage”)|Liquid Oxygen|
|[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrxgc “Last usage”)|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
|[SRB](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfsqdl “Last usage”)|Solid Rocket Booster|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|[Starlink](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfu73t “Last usage”)|SpaceX’s world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
|[autogenous](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrdbq “Last usage”)|(Of a propellant tank) Pressurising the tank using boil-off of the contents, instead of a separate gas like helium|
|[cryogenic](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfqjtb “Last usage”)|Very low temperature fluid; materials that would be gaseous at room temperature/pressure|
| |(In re: rocket fuel) Often synonymous with hydrolox|
|hydrolox|Portmanteau: liquid hydrogen fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
|[hypergolic](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrdbq “Last usage”)|A set of two substances that ignite when in contact|
|[monopropellant](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrdbq “Last usage”)|Rocket propellant that requires no oxidizer (eg. hydrazine)|
|[ullage motor](/r/Space/comments/1l0rta7/stub/mvfrdbq “Last usage”)|Small rocket motor that fires to push propellant to the bottom of the tank, when in zero-g|
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
—————-
^([Thread #11392 for this sub, first seen 1st Jun 2025, 16:43])
^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/Space) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
Why don’t they have to clean that all up or pay a gigantic littering fine?
Humanity will not make it past whatever filter awaits us.
So when it’s trash we call it Gulf of Mexico but when it’s something positive is Trump’s Gulf. Fkin H…
I don’t even know who’s the bigger clown, him or the CEO of SpaceX
That’s pretty funny considering I’m vouching for the US to be the global leader and literally US was the ones who found and rallied the world to correct this exact issue, at the Montreal and Vienna conventions as well as eliminating it from our society first.
Inb4 “THEY ARE GOING TO SAVE HUMANITY!!! WE WILL BE A MULTI-PLANET SPECIES!!!”