SpaceX has accomplished its investigation into the reason for the engine failure through the Falcon 9 launch on July 11. The corporate has submitted an “incident report” to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is making ready to return the Falcon 9 rocket to flight as quickly as tomorrow.
The corporate’s investigative staff, working with the FAA, decided that the July 11 failure was attributable to a liquid oxygen leak that occurred through the preliminary combustion of the Falcon 9’s second-stage engine. The leak is claimed to have originated from a crack in a strain sensor sensing wire that’s a part of the rocket’s oxygen system. Usually the clamps that restrain the sensing wires develop into free, subjecting them to extreme vibration from the engine, finally inflicting them to fatigue and crack.
A press release on the SpaceX web site stated liquid oxygen leaking from the Falcon 9 rocket’s higher stage brought about “extreme cooling of engine elements, most significantly these related to delivering ignition fluid to the engine.” As a substitute of a second managed burn, the engine skilled what SpaceX describes as a “onerous begin,” inflicting injury to the engine and inflicting the higher stage to lose altitude management.
Falcon 9’s first stage carried out as anticipated through the July 11 launch and landed safely for reuse, however a second-stage mishap resulted within the Falcon 9’s Starlink satellites being deployed in a decrease orbit , the place “a particularly excessive drag setting exists” inflicting all 20 satellites to re-enter the Earth’s environment and hopefully deplete.
To get the Falcon 9 again in flight as rapidly as attainable, SpaceX engineers will merely take away the failed sensing wires and sensors on the second-stage engine. “This sensor shouldn’t be utilized by the flight security system and might be overridden by a substitute sensor already on the engine.” The corporate additionally inspected, cleaned and changed some sensing wires and fixtures on the Lively Booster Fleet. SpaceX has been testing the modifications at its facility in McGregor, Texas, underneath the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Now that the investigation is full, the Falcon 9 rocket is not grounded and might be put again into service. The corporate’s web site states that SpaceX plans to conduct the subsequent Falcon 9 launch at 12:21 pm ET on July 27, carrying 23 Starlink satellites from NASA’s Kennedy House Heart, with launches later that day and July 28 There can be further launch window alternatives on the identical day.
