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Exclusive pics and videos of the Starship SN10 wreckage cleanup

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After the successful landing but a sad demise of the Starship SN10 prototype last week, SpaceX is preparing for new ventures with the SN11 and further prototypes. After the explosion, the Starship SN10 debris scattered around the Boca Chica landing pad that SpaceX teams started to clear on Friday.

One of our readers, Gail Alfar provided us photos and videos of the Starship SN10 debris. She captured these scenes over the weekend in two of his visits to the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility.

Alfar lives close to Boca Chica and Tesla Gigafactory Austin, Texas is also within his reach of 20 mins drive. She is also a member of the Tesla Owners Austin, a local community group of Tesla owners.

Engineers working to clear off a Raptor engine from the Starship SN10 landing area. Credits: Gail Alfar / Twitter (Click/Tap photos to launch the gallery). All photos and videos are posted with the express written permission of the copyright holder.
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Engineers inspecting Starship SN10 Raptor engine leftovers from the explosion. Engineers inspecting Starship SN10 Raptor engine leftovers from the explosion.

Gail also took some short video clips of the heavy machinery working to clear the Starship SN10 wreckage to make way for the next flights and perform repairs to the landing pad/area.

Look for more videos below.
Starship SN10 wreckage being dragged to the SpaceX building.
Starship SN10 and Raptor engine remains at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility.

When Starship SN8 exploded without a successful landing, Elon Musk and his SpaceX team visited the landing site to inspect the remains of the SN8 before the site was cleared of the debris. This time, the SpaceX CEO was not seen at the Boca Chica landing pad.

A damaged aft fin of the Starship SN10 can be seen in the following photo, this is a massive piece of metal controlled with sophisticated electrical and electronic systems, a glimpse of which is visible in this photo.

Wrecked Starship SN10 aft fin at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility.
Starship SN10 debris at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility.
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A fallen Starship SN10 Raptor engine.
A fallen Starship SN10 Raptor engine (closeup).

Above we can see an entire fallen Raptor engine out of the total 3 engines installed on any Starship. A Raptor engine can withstand 330+ bar of chamber pressure without exploding, “For reference, 330 bar on Raptor produces ~225 tons (half a million pounds) of force,” Elon Musk once said on Twitter.

Cutting the Starship SN10 fallen parts with welding at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility.
Cutting the Starship SN10 fallen parts with welding at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Facility (pic 2).
A Tesla Model X and other vehicles parked at SpaceX, tank farm visible in the background.

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By Iqtidar Ali

Iqtidar has been writing about Tesla, Elon Musk, and EVs for more than 3 years on XAutoWorld.com, many of his articles have been republished on CleanTechnica and InsideEVs, maintains a healthy relationship with the Tesla community across the Social Media sphere. You can reach him on Twitter @IqtidarAlii