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Mexico Threatens to Sue SpaceX Over Starship Pollution After Testing Blast

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s lawsuit warning came after a June 18 explosion at Starbase lobbed debris across the Rio Grande River. “There is indeed contamination,” she said.

Published July 9, 2025 at 12:09pm

The Mexican government has had enough of SpaceX’s rocket debris winding up on its territory near Starbase.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government is considering suing Elon Musk’s space company after a massive explosion threw hunks of a Starship rocket across the Rio Grande River into Mexico during testing last month.

Nobody was injured in the June 18 blast, the latest in a string of setbacks for the giant craft Musk says will carry humans to Mars. But it has prompted Mexican officials to investigate the “environmental and security” impacts of SpaceX’s operation along the border near Boca Chica Beach.

While the recent explosion was the first to lob wreckage directly into Mexico, debris from previous Starship flights has been washing up on the country’s beaches since the craft’s maiden flight April 20, 2023.

Locals and treasure hunters have found parts, including 12-foot-long tanks and hundreds of heat shield tiles, from past Starship flights along 200 miles of Mexican coastline south of Starbase.

Citing Mexican scientists’ findings that the space junk is harming wildlife in the state of Tamaulipas and Gulf of Mexico, Sheinbaum said, “There is indeed contamination.”

SpaceX has long denied the wreckage poses a threat. In response to Mexico’s consideration of legal action, the company said on X that “there are no hazards to the surrounding area,” and that Starship’s materials “pose no chemical, biological, or toxicological risks.”

According to Sheinbaum, though, the Mexican government is reviewing international laws and will file “necessary lawsuits.”

The international scrutiny comes as SpaceX is ramping up to launch as many as 25 Starships a year from Starbase and expanding their operation into Florida.

Despite public opposition and lingering questions over its operation, the FAA found that allowing more launches “would not significantly impact” the environment.

The last three Starships to be launched from South Texas have broken up in flight. Two sent fiery debris across the Atlantic and some Caribbean islands resulting in nearly 500 flight delays or diversions.

On its most recent flight on May 27, the mega-rocket’s booster crashed in the Gulf of Mexico and the upper-stage Starship broke up over the Indian Ocean. An investigation is ongoing.

Mexico’s concerns come almost a year after the International Boundary and Water Commission urged the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to facilitate better coordination with the Mexican government and federal environmental regulators.