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Source: Global Times

[Global Times Special Correspondent Chen Shan] The Falcon 9 rocket developed by the US Space Exploration Technology Company (SpaceX) failed during launch on the 11th, and the US Federal Aviation Administration immediately announced the suspension of the rocket's subsequent missions. What has caused concern among US media is that as the most important and widely used launch vehicle in the United States, the grounding of the Falcon 9 not only means the interruption of SpaceX's rapidly developing Starlink Internet satellite constellation networking work, but also directly affects the supply and subsequent manned missions of the International Space Station.

On July 8, 2024, local time, in Florida, the United States, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched

According to an announcement released by SpaceX on the 13th, the reusable first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the evening of the 11th. It operated as expected and successfully returned to land, but the second stage of the rocket failed to re-ignite as planned, resulting in the 20 Starlink satellites on board the rocket not being sent to the planned orbit. This is the first launch failure of the Falcon 9 rocket in nearly a decade.

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States issued a statement on its official website on the 11th, saying that in order to further improve public safety, it will launch an investigation to determine the cause of the accident and find improvement measures to prevent such accidents from happening again. The statement clearly stated that the Falcon 9 rocket can only resume flying after it is determined that any system, process or procedure related to the accident does not affect public safety.

SpaceX said that preliminary investigations showed that a leak of liquid oxygen used as a rocket fuel oxidizer on the second stage of the rocket may be the cause of the launch failure. The failure of this launch directly affected the 20 Starlink satellites that could not reach the target orbit. SpaceX said that it had contacted 10 of the satellites and tried to use the ion thrusters on the satellites to bring them to the target orbit. Because their current orbit is only 135 kilometers from the earth, less than half of the planned orbital altitude, the maximum available thrust of the satellite thrusters is unlikely to lift them to a high enough orbit.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said on social media that the satellite software is being updated to enable the ion thrusters to operate at super high speeds. "It may not work, but it's worth a try." The remaining satellites are destined to fall into the Earth's atmosphere, but SpaceX did not mention their specific re-entry time. The company said that these satellites were designed from the beginning to consider that they would disintegrate and burn up when they re-entered the atmosphere, so they would not pose a threat to people and property on the ground.

As the most important and widely used launch vehicle in the United States, the Falcon 9 has carried out 354 orbital launches since its debut in June 2010, including 13 manned flights; it has also successfully landed its boosters more than 300 times and has been reused more than 280 times. The last launch failure of the Falcon 9 was on June 28, 2015, when the rocket was carrying a cargo Dragon spacecraft to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, but it exploded shortly after takeoff. The rocket was then grounded for six months pending an investigation. On September 1, 2016, the Falcon 9 rocket exploded again during a static ignition test on the ground, forcing it to be grounded for nearly five months.

United Press International said that although the failure on the 11th could not be called "catastrophic", it had a great impact on SpaceX's subsequent launches. Currently, the "Starlink" satellite is in a high-speed networking period. Since the beginning of this year, SpaceX has launched "Starlink" satellites with a high-frequency speed of once every two to three days using the "Falcon 9". This failed mission is the 69th launch this year. However, the FAA's investigation may delay future launch plans for a considerable period of time.

The report also mentioned that the Falcon 9 was originally scheduled to carry out two important manned missions in the coming months. This included transporting American billionaire Jared Isaacman and three other personnel to carry out the "Polaris Dawn" private space mission on July 31. This mission plans to use the space suits tailored for the team by SpaceX and the manned "Dragon" spacecraft to carry out the "first private spacewalk in history." According to the plan, the "Polaris Dawn" mission will fly to an orbit about 700 kilometers from the earth, which is also the highest altitude reached by a manned flight mission since the "Apollo" moon landing mission in the 1960s.

At the same time, in mid-August, the Falcon 9 will also carry the manned Dragon spacecraft to send a new batch of astronauts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the International Space Station.

In addition, the Falcon 9 is scheduled to carry out an important resupply mission to the International Space Station in August using the cargo Dragon spacecraft. Currently, two American astronauts on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft are extending their stay at the International Space Station due to a spacecraft malfunction, and the outside world has been worried that this may lead to a shortage of supplies at the International Space Station.