The Falcon 9 rocket reportedly has a lot riding on it – and has been grounded by the FAA since its investigation of an engine failure
The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. The upper stage engine malfunctioned several minutes into the flight. SpaceX on Friday blamed a liquid oxygen leak.
Falcon 9’s second stage performed its first burn nominally, however a liquid oxygen leak developed on the second stage. After a planned relight of the upper stage engine to raise perigee – or the lowest point of orbit – the Merlin Vacuum engine experienced an anomaly and was unable to complete its second burn.
The company said on its website that it will conduct a full investigation in coordination with the FAA. The Falcon 9 has been grounded by the FAA pending the results of the investigation, reports CNBC.
The Falcon 9 has a lot riding on it — literally. It has been used for 52 percent of all orbital launches this year, according to Gunter Krebs’s Orbital Launches tracker. (Thursday’s launch was the 70th Falcon 9 launch in 2024; in all of 2023, the Falcon 9 was used for 96 launches.)
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The company said on Friday that it had made contact with 10 satellites of the 20 that had been onboard but noted that the satellites were in an enormously high-drag environment. The maximum available thrust won’t be enough to raise the satellites, and they will return to the atmosphere and die.
SpaceX said the satellites will reenter the atmosphere and burn up. They didn’t mention when they might come down. More than 6,000 orbiting Starlinks currently provide internet service to customers in some of the most remote corners of the world.
It wasn’t known if or how the accident would affect the upcoming crew flights. A billionaire’s spaceflight is scheduled for July 31 from Florida with plans for the first private spacewalk, followed in mid-August by an astronaut flight to the International Space Station for NASA.
According to the tech entrepreneur who will lead the private flight, the Falcon 9 has an incredible track record as well as an emergency escape system.