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SpaceX’s prolific Falcon 9 rocket grounded after failed mission

By CNN Newsource

Published July 12, 2024 5:28 AM

By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — SpaceX’s stalwart Falcon 9 rocket, which powers satellite launches as well as trips to orbit for astronauts, experienced a rare and troubling failure Thursday night as it attempted to haul a batch of internet satellites to orbit. The ordeal has prompted federal regulators to ground the rocket, which has become a cornerstone of the United States and global launch industries over the past decade.

The incident marks the first time a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — which also plays a critical part in NASA’s human spaceflight program — has failed in nearly a decade.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, said Friday morning that it is requiring an investigation into the incident, though no “public injuries or public property damage have been reported.”

The FAA, which routinely launches such investigations in the name of public safety after rockets or spacecraft fail, noted that it will be involved in issuing corrective actions for SpaceX to take, as well as determining when the Falcon 9 might return to the launchpad.

If the Falcon 9 is out of commission for an extended period of time, it could mean rolling setbacks for NASA’s astronaut launch schedule, SpaceX’s orbital space tourism efforts, the company’s satellite internet service, and the global commercial satellite industry, which relies heavily on the Falcon 9.

Anomaly after liftoff

The Falcon 9 at issue took flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday evening, around 10:30 p.m. local time.

The launch vehicle carried 20 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink network, which already operates via more than 6,000 satellites that have been deployed via dozens of launches, according to astrophyiscist Jonathan McDowell.

Most of those flights have gone off without any obvious issues, but Thursday was different.

The first leg of the mission appeared to proceed smoothly, with the Falcon 9 using its first-stage booster — the bottommost part of the rocket with nine engines that provide the initial burst of power at liftoff — to propel itself toward space.

That booster then detached and landed safely back on a sea-faring platform so that SpaceX can refurbish and use it again.

But the second stage of the rocket, which is designed to fire up after the first stage falls away and power the satellites to their final destination in orbit, failed abruptly. The cause was not immediately clear.

“During tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink, the second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit,” according to a statement from SpaceX.

Later on Friday, SpaceX added in a statement that the upper stage of the rocket experienced a “liquid oxygen leak.” Liquid oxygen, or LOX, is used as an oxidizer for the fuel aboard Falcon 9.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, added in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the the second stage did not just fail — it experienced what his company tends to call an “RUD” or “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” which typically refers to an explosion.

And though the rocket deployed all the satellites that had been on board, they wound up in a wonky orbit that drags them far closer to Earth than intended. That leaves the devices at the mercy of the strong pull of Earth’s gravity.

Musk added in a separate post on X that SpaceX would “investigate the issue and look for any other potential near-misses.”

“We are tracking to do more Falcon flights this year than Shuttle did in 30 years,” Musk said. (SpaceX has launched more than 60 Falcon 9 flights so far in 2024, while NASA’s space shuttle program flew 135 missions in its three-decade history.)

A crucial time for SpaceX

Thursday’s mishap raises questions about how long the Falcon 9 rocket will have to be taken out of service at a crucial time for SpaceX and the US space industry.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 plays a key role in NASA’s human spaceflight program — flying astronauts on routine trips to orbit.

Notably, SpaceX’s mishap comes after Boeing’s Starliner vehicle, which is set to join SpaceX in providing astronaut launches, experienced several issues during its ongoing debut crewed mission.

The Starliner has already extended its mission weeks longer than expected as engineers work to figure out what caused helium leaks and thruster problems on the first leg of the spacecraft’s trip.

And while NASA and Boeing officials say they are confident that the Starliner will be able to bring its crew members home, Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, noted Wednesday that SpaceX is a backup option.

“The beautiful thing about Commercial Crew Program is that we have two vehicles,” Stich said, referring to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which routinely launches on the Falcon 9, and the Starliner.

“We have a little bit more time to look at the data and then make a decision as to whether we need to do anything different,” Stich said, referring to the flexibility that SpaceX could grant the International Space Station schedule and the Starliner test flight.

Crucially, the Falcon 9 was also slated to launch the next cargo resupply mission to the ISS, providing fresh resources to the Starliner test crew and other astronauts aboard the space station. The two Starliner astronauts went to space without two suitcases they packed with clothes and toiletries because NASA needed to squeeze a bathroom pump on board their flight. It’s not yet clear whether NASA will be forced to delay that resupply mission.

“Crew safety and mission assurance are top priorities for NASA,” the agency said Friday in a statement. “SpaceX has been forthcoming with information and is including NASA in the company’s ongoing anomaly investigation to understand the issue and path forward. NASA will provide updates on agency missions including potential schedule impacts, if any, as more information becomes available.”

Falcon 9, SpaceX’s most prolific launch vehicle, and the company’s Crew Dragon capsule also have some notable astronaut missions of their own on the horizon. That includes plans to fly tech billionaire Jared Isaacman and three crew mates to orbit on a mission called Polaris Dawn that is expected to include the first-ever spacewalk conducted by private astronauts.

“SpaceX has an incredible track record with Falcon 9,” Isaacman said Friday on X. “As for Polaris Dawn, we will fly whenever SpaceX is ready and with complete confidence in the rocket, spaceship and operations.”

In August, SpaceX is also expected to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as part of a long-running contract with the space agency.

Starlink satellites’ fate

Musk said the Starlink satellites deployed on Thursday may be too near Earth to remain in orbit for long.

Of the 20 Starlink satellites launched on the Falcon 9 rocket, 13 had direct-to-cellular capabilities, according to SpaceX.

In one update posted Friday, SpaceX said it had made contact with 10 of the satellites and was attempting to raise their orbit — but they were not likely to survive.

“We’re updating satellite software to run the ion thrusters at their equivalent of warp 9,” Musk said. “Unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work, but it’s worth a shot.”

SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are designed to disintegrate as the reenter the atmosphere, according to the company, so satellites that do fall out of orbit should not pose a risk to people on the ground, SpaceX said in a post on X Friday.

However, recent incidents have shown space garbage can unexpectedly survive reentry.

Some of the Starlink satellites, however, may have already reentered the atmosphere, according to McDowell, who is an expert in orbital mechanics. He pointed to a video circulating on social media that appears to show a few of the Starlink devices plummeting through the sky near Chile and noted that his models show that, given the low altitude where satellites deployed, all of them should be dragged out of orbit within a week or so.

It’s not clear what this mishap will mean for the future of SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Typically, rockets remain grounded for months after a failure as engineers work to determine the root cause and verify the vehicle’s safety.

NASA did not immediately provide comment to CNN Friday morning. When asked for additional information Friday, SpaceX pointed to updates shared on its X account.

The last time a Falcon 9 rocket failed during flight was in June 2015, when the launch vehicle was powering a cargo mission to the International Space Station. The rocket was grounded for about six months after that mishap before resuming flight in December 2015.

Another issue occurred in September 2016, when a Falcon 9 rocket holding a satellite exploded on the launchpad before liftoff. The rocket did not fly for another four and a half months after that incident.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has launched more than 350 missions in total, according to the company’s website.

That’s a prime reason that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 may bounce back rather quickly, staying grounded for weeks rather than months, McDowell noted. The abundance of flight data may help the company quickly pinpoint what went wrong. But this failure, he added, was also a reminder of a broader issue.

“It does show the danger of a monopoly,” McDowell said, highlighting the soundness of NASA’s decision to pursue two different providers of astronaut transportation. “And it’s probably a good thing for (SpaceX) as well, in that danger for a vehicle that’s so successful is overconfidence — and so this will remind the team that, as you say, space is still hard, even for Falcon 9.”