The giant explosion that destroyed a SpaceX Starship vehicle on the test stand this week was likely caused by the failure of a pressurized nitrogen tank, the company said.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested on X that a high-pressure nitrogen tank failure was behind the explosion of the company's massive Starship rocket.

SpaceX says its Starship 36 exploded due to a “major anomaly” during a routine static fire test just after 11 p.m. local time on Wednesday night.