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.

The huge blast enveloped the craft as it stood upright at Starbase, before massive plumes of flames and smoke mushroomed into the night sky, video footage of the incident late Wednesday showed.