SpaceX pauses launches after de-orbit of Falcon 9’s second stage misfires
SpaceX today announced that, after its Falcon 9 rocket had successfully placed two astronauts in orbit in its Freedom capsule, the engine burn designed to de-orbit the rocket’s upper stage in a safe zone in the ocean misfired, and for this reason the company was scrubbing a planned launch today until the root cause was found.
After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.
We will resume launching after we better understand root cause
The company provided no further details on exactly what happened. We know the engine fired, and the stage was successfully de-orbited safely over the ocean, but we do not know how far outside its target zone. Nor do we know the extent of the “off-nominal deorbit burn.”
At present today’s scrubbed launch, placing three satellites of Starlink’s competitor OneWeb into orbit, is scheduled for tomorrow, but that is likely a contigency scheduling. SpaceX’s launch teams have gotten very good at rescheduling launches day-to-day, so that as soon as it gets the go-ahead it can go ahead.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
SpaceX today announced that, after its Falcon 9 rocket had successfully placed two astronauts in orbit in its Freedom capsule, the engine burn designed to de-orbit the rocket’s upper stage in a safe zone in the ocean misfired, and for this reason the company was scrubbing a planned launch today until the root cause was found.
After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.
We will resume launching after we better understand root cause
The company provided no further details on exactly what happened. We know the engine fired, and the stage was successfully de-orbited safely over the ocean, but we do not know how far outside its target zone. Nor do we know the extent of the “off-nominal deorbit burn.”
At present today’s scrubbed launch, placing three satellites of Starlink’s competitor OneWeb into orbit, is scheduled for tomorrow, but that is likely a contigency scheduling. SpaceX’s launch teams have gotten very good at rescheduling launches day-to-day, so that as soon as it gets the go-ahead it can go ahead.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
You mean SpaceX would stop and investigate something that threatens its success or creates big liability without a government bureaucrat regulator telling it so to do?!
Robert Pratt – Great observation. Enjoy your podcast.
I wonder how large an area makes up the target area?
As these things go, I bet there is an additional buffer zone around that target area. I wonder how big that buffer zone is and did the second stage (or debris as it comes in at reentry speeds) land outside the target area BUT INSIDE the buffer zone?
“I wonder how large an area makes up the target area?”
Some recent thoughts on NSF (with graphics):
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59683.msg2628588#msg2628588
Jeff – Thanks. Great info. Looking at the site here is what I get out of it.
Looks to me like the target area was a rough rectangle about 900 nautical miles long and 150 nautical wide (each degree of latitude is roughly 60 nautical miles). Speaking as a guy that used to sail Navy ships around the oceans, that is a pretty big area.
Talking text boxes on site speculated that, after imperfect reentry burn, second stage fell somewhere between northern end of box and equator or (AT MAXIMUM) about 750 miles outside the area. I would think SpaceX has more precise impact data, but they are under no obligation to share with general public. I am sure that they are sharing with FAA, NASA and DoD (as any responsible US launch provider would).
Based on the recent discovery that pieces of the Dragon Trunk survived reentry causing SpaceX to shift future landing areas to the Pacific to avoid trunk pieces North America land impact, i wonder how intact the send stage of Falcon 9 is at ocean impact?
Thanks for great pointer.
Something I’ve been wondering about re promoting the complete incineration of reentering expendable stages: would inducing a longitudinal axis spin promote better incineration?
Yes: a rapid enough spin might promote the breakup of the stage during reentry stress, creating multiple smaller fragments more likely to completely incinerate.
No: a spin might tend to more evenly distribute the plasma heating, resulting in fewer extreme hotspots, and promote the creation of larger fragments more likely to survive.
Ray – I have always thought that break up of a stage would induce scattering of pieces over a wider area, some of which would probably survive. I had thought that if an object could reenter fairly intact over the ocean it would reduce the probability of interaction with aircraft of ships over or on the ocean and would just slam down in a single spot under the big ocean / small object theory of safety.
Minor edit in penultimate paragraph: “we know the extent of”
Andi: Fixed. Thank you.