The Falcon 9 rocket launches are on hold again. This time, it’s due to a problem with the second stage. However, SpaceX is expected to resume launches soon as it has two important missions scheduled for the next few days.
Context. SpaceX successfully launched the Crew-9 mission on Saturday. However, the company had to adjust its mission, which included two empty seats for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. NASA’s astronauts have been stranded in space since June after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth uncrewed.
The launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon was successful. Its capsule safely arrived at the International Space Station with a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut on board. The Falcon 9 booster also landed safely. However, the rocket’s second stage experienced a very rare anomaly.
What happened? Falcon 9’s second stage isn’t reused, unlike the first stage. Similar to most rockets, the upper stage of SpaceX’s rocket reserves some fuel to safely de-orbit, meaning it falls out of orbit and re-enters Earth’s atmosphere over the ocean. It does so once it separates from its payload, which in this case was the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The intended location for the second stage re-entry was an unpopulated region of the South Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand. However, due to an abnormal ignition of the Merlin engine, it ended up making impact outside the target area.
Why it matters. The de-orbit ignition occurs after the payload is placed in orbit. Therefore, it’s not part of the rocket’s primary mission. Nonetheless, ensuring that the Falcon 9 upper stage re-enters the atmosphere in a controlled manner is crucial.
Active de-orbiting prevents an uncontrolled fall of the rocket, which could cause its debris to impact populated areas. It also reduces the risk of impact with space debris, other rockets, and satellites in orbit, ultimately helping to minimize the growth of space debris in an unsustainable way.
Falcon 9 remains grounded. After completing the Crew-9 mission, SpaceX reported a failure with Falcon 9 and halted its launches.
Falcon 9’s second stage entered the Pacific without causing any damage. However, it had an in-flight anomaly, so the Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation to clarify the failure.
Second time in less than three months. This is the second time this year that the second stage of a Falcon 9 has failed. In July, a leak of liquid oxygen through a crack in a conduit for a pressure sensor caused the loss of 23 Starlink satellites.
All launches were suspended, and there were concerns about a months-long delay. However, SpaceX completed the investigation quickly, removed the redundant oxygen conduit and sensor, and returned to flight two weeks later. Additionally, a first-stage landing failed in August, but SpaceX resumed flights within 48 hours.
If you ask me, it’ll fly again soon. The failure has come at the worst possible time because SpaceX has two important missions in the next few days:
- On Oct. 7, the European Space Agency’s Hera probe will approach Dimorphos, the asteroid deflected by NASA’s DART mission.
- On Oct. 10, NASA’s massive Europa Clipper probe will approach Jupiter’s moon Europa. It’s a Falcon Heavy rocket launch, but it uses the same second stage as Falcon 9.
It’s unclear how long the pause in launches will last, but SpaceX is no doubt working against the clock to complete the investigation as soon as possible and get FAA approval to resume operations. The missions are too important for the company.
Image | SpaceX
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