SpaceX’s Falcon 9 spacecraft suffers catastrophic failure during launch

SpaceX Completes Successful Launch Series of Its Falcon 9 Rocket. The latest mission to put Starlink satellites into orbit has suffered a catastrophic failure. The second phase unexpectedly fell apart without achieving his goal.

As with all missions, SpaceX broadcast the launch live on X. After the second stage separated, the camera capturedor unusual accumulation of ice on the sidesAlthough the stage flew for six minutes, a malfunction prevented it from completing the second stage and changing its orbit from elliptical to circular.

“During today’s Falcon 9 Starlink launch, the second stage engine failed to complete its second burn. As a result, Starlink satellites launched into lower orbit than planned“SpaceX mentioned X on its account. “SpaceX has currently made contact with five satellites and is attempting to raise their orbit using its ion engines.”

According to Elon Musk, Falcon 9 Second Stage Undergoes Unscheduled Rapid Disassembly (RUD, English abbreviation). “The upper stage perigee burn resulted in an engine failure for reasons that are currently unknown,” the SpaceX chief said. Musk added that the team would review the data to understand the cause of the failure.

Problems in Falcon 9 to end an eight-year streak of successful releasesThe last time we saw an accident was in January 2016, when the rocket exploded after failing to land properly on the platform. An investigation found that the explosion was caused by oxygen trapped between the COPV tank and the skin buckle, causing the hull to catch fire.

What Will Happen to the Next SpaceX Falcon 9 Missions?

Although SpaceX managed to successfully land the Falcon 9 during its latest mission, The problems at the second stage will be carefully analyzedElon Musk mentioned that they managed to deploy the satellites, but the perigee may be too low to raise their orbit.

“We are updating the satellite software to enable ion thrusters to operate at a level equivalent to Warp 9,” Musk said in a later post. “Propellants satellites need to raise their orbit faster than atmospheric resistance pushes them down, otherwise they will burn up.”

SpaceX confirmed this a few minutes ago. They established contact with 10 satellites and tried to raise their orbit, but found themselves in the midst of enormous resistance and They are beyond salvation..

“Each perigee pass removes more than 5 km of altitude from the highest point of the satellite’s orbit. At this level of drag, it is unlikely that our maximum available thrust will be sufficient to successfully lift the satellites.

The satellites will thus re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and disappear completely. They pose no threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.

SpaceX

With the landing of the first stage of Falcon 9. SpaceX mentioned that it completed its 70th mission in 2024.The company has more Starlink satellites scheduled for launch in July, as well as the first Polaris mission, a program that aims to take space exploration to the next level.

Target Polaris first release It will fly higher than the Dragon missions, test new spacesuits outside the ship, and orbit through parts of the Van Allen radiation belt. Falcon 9 will send Crew Dragon 2 with four astronauts on board. While Polaris is next on the calendar, The exact date of its departure from Kennedy Space Center is unknown..