New version of Starship fails and re-enters minutes after launch

On January 16^th, 2025, SpaceX launched it huge Starship rocket for its 7^th test flight from Starbase in Texas. The launch was the first flight of a new upper stage: the Block 2 Ship. It has a different forward flap design, a 25% increase in propellant capacity, redesigned avionics, an upgraded thermal protection system and an higher-thrust engines.
Lift-off occurred at 22:37 UTC (4:37 pm CST, local time). 2 minutes and 40 seconds after launch the upper stage Starship fired its engines and separated from the first stage Super Heavy. Super Heavy performed a boostback burn to return to the launch site and almost 7 minutes into flight it was successfully catched by the “chopstick” arms of the launch tower. All seemed to go well, but apparently the engines of the Ship started to fail. Telemetry was lost 8 minutes and 26 seconds after launch. It exploded over the Turks and Caicos Islands with the debris likely reentering over the ocean north of Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands, prompting airspace closures in the region.
SpaceX had planned a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean for the upper stage and it featured a “pez-dispenser” that would deploy 10 Starlink internet satellite mass simulators. They were designed to pave the way for deployments of the advanced Starlink V3 version.
After the mission, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that a propellant leak was the probable cause of Ship’s failure: “Preliminary indications suggest an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall, which was substantial enough to build pressure beyond the venting capacity.”