The Tribune

ROUGHLY 400 pounds of debris — mostly lightweight silica tiles — have been recovered near Ragged Island following the March 6 explosion of SpaceX’s Starship 8 rocket, the Office of the Prime Minister said yesterday.

OPM said the debris is being transported to the United States for disposal, with all clean-up costs covered by SpaceX. The company launched the operation under the supervision of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and environmental consultants BRON.

The statement came after former Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira criticised the government in The Tribune yesterday, saying the administration had failed to reveal how much SpaceX would pay for clean-up. He questioned whether the government had conducted any scientific evaluation of the debris and said residents had a right to know whether hazardous material had fallen on Bahamian territory.

OPM said the tiles recovered were made primarily of silica — essentially sand — and stressed that SpaceX is obligated under the 1972 Space Liability Convention to cover environmental remediation costs.

Officials reiterated that the Starship 8 rocket, which exploded minutes after launching from Texas, was not part of The Bahamas’ regulated partnership with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket programme. Instead, the rocket was operating under the authority of the US Federal Aviation Administration and was intended to pass over multiple countries before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.