SpaceX has lost contact with its Starship mega rocket during its second test flight from southern Texas.

The 397ft rocket - the largest and most powerful ever built - arced out over the Gulf of Mexico after blasting off, with SpaceX aiming to separate the spaceship from its booster and send it into space.

After the booster separated from the main ship, the rocket reached space for the first time, following the failure of its inaugural mission in April.

It was aiming for an altitude of 150 miles, which is just high enough for the spacecraft to travel around the globe before ditching in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, 90 minutes after lift-off.

However, eight minutes into the flight, the company announced on its livestream that it had lost contact with the booster, and was assuming that the rocket had failed.

The Starship’s first flight in April lasted just four minutes before an explosion sent the wreckage crashing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Since then, SpaceX had made dozens of improvements to the booster and its 33 engines, as well as the launch pad.

But as the Starship was set to enter the coast phase on Saturday, Space X said it had lost contact and ended its livestream.

The company added that it was unable to receive data from Starship’s second stage, meaning the spacecraft “wouldn’t be able to come back in an hour or so and possibly get ready for re-entry”.

The company confirmed that it was forced to trigger Starship’s “flight termination system”, which is essentially a self-destruct feature designed to stop the spacecraft from traveling off course.

The mission’s plan was broadly the same as before: to send the top part of the spacecraft on nearly one full revolution of the Earth.

If the mission had been successful, it would have seen the vehicle crash into the ocean roughly 90 minutes after lift-off.