A SpaceX rocket has exploded on landing after a test flight in the US.

The company was running a sub-orbital flight trial of its new Starship prototype when it exploded.

All appeared to be going well with the test until the very last moment.

Starship landing flip maneuver pic.twitter.com/QuD9HwZ9CX

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 10, 2020

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was upbeat about the six minute 24 second test flight, tweeting: "Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks and precise flap control to landing point!"

"We got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team, hell yeah!!"

When completed, Starship is expected to be “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed”

SpaceX Starship test vehicle on the launchpad in Texas. Image: SpaceX/Flickr

Nearly 400 feet tall and 30 feet wide, it is designed to carry crew and cargo, “to the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

It will have the power to lift more than 100 metric tonnes off the Earth’s surface and into orbit.

"Mars, here we come!!" Musk tweeted after the test.

The latest test was the highest it has flown to date and Musk believes it is still on track to carry people to Mars in as little as six years.