SpaceX effectively introduced three rapid-firing Falcon nine rockets over the weekend, putting 67 Starlink satellites into orbit within three days of getting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume launches following a rare failure in flight on July 11.
SpaceX began its return to flight with the launch of 23 Starlink Internet satellites from the Kennedy Space Center early Saturday, followed by a second Starlink launch from the Cape Canaveral space station early Sunday that put 23 repeater stations into orbit. broadband more. The third Falcon 9 arrived a few hours later from the Vandenberg space station in California.
The 3 flights seem to go without problems.
NASA is counting on the Falcon 9 to launch a Northrop Grumman Cygnus refueling shipment to the International Space Station on August 3, followed by a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight carrying 3 of the agency’s astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the laboratory around August 18th.
The second level planned for use with manned flight, known as Crew 9, will be tested in the coming days at a SpaceX facility near McGregor, Texas, to check that the company’s corrective moves will not have accidental consequences.
“There will be a second fire around July 30, and it will be to check some of the new modifications that the vehicle will have as a result of the anomaly,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s publicity team, said Friday.
“We followed this investigation through the FAA step by step, SpaceX was very transparent, our groups were incorporated into the research and followed all the adjustments on this booster. “
The space company has not yet officially authorized the launch of those flights, but SpaceX’s success in returning to flights this weekend will influence the final decision.
Boeing engineers also had a busy weekend, effectively maneuvering 27 boosters in the company’s Starliner capsule, now docked to the International Space Station.
The tests verified the intelligent operation of previously disturbed reaction formula boosters (RCS) and demonstrated that known helium leaks in the capsule propulsion formula had remained robust and had not worsened.
Tests suggest that the thrusters will also work when the ship returns to Earth.
“The single-pulse firing was designed to verify the functionality of the booster,” Boeing wrote in an update. “Between shots, the team reviewed the knowledge in real time and all the thrusters operated at their maximum thrust values.
“The helium formulation also remained stable,” the company said. “In addition, an RCS oxidizer isolation valve that was not fully in position in the past was activated several times in (Saturday’s) testing and is now operating normally. “
Launched on June 5 on the spacecraft’s first piloted test flight, the Starliner team, consisting of Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, first expected to spend about 8 days in space.
The project is now just two months old due to problems with the propellant and five helium leaks, one detected before the release and four during the capsule’s encounter with the space station.
NASA is expected to conduct a first review this week to compare the test data and whether the mission is in a position to safely bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth.
As for SpaceX and the Falcon 9, the company attributed the July 11 outage to a crack in an upper-level sensor line, due to a loose bracket and steel fatigue, which caused a leak of liquid oxygen.
The leak, in turn, caused incredibly low temperatures in the engine’s pipes, slowing production of a fluid needed to restart the powertrain for a planned “burn-out” moment.
Instead, the engine suffered a “hard start” that broke several components, preventing the rocket from reaching its intended orbit. While the level remained intact, the Starlinks it was carrying were launched into a much lower orbit than expected and then burned up in the atmosphere.
Sarah Walker, a senior SpaceX executive, said Friday that the “sensor line” was not necessary and would simply be removed from subsequent rockets. She said the knowledge provided will be gleaned from other telemetry resources on the rocket.
As for manned Crew Dragon flights, he added, the second-tier engine is only activated once and the leak that derailed the Starlink launch would have occurred on a manned flight. In all cases, the leaking accessory will be removed.
“I’m incredibly confident in the equipment and in the built-in technique that NASA has brought to the response,” said Nick Hague, co-pilot of Crew Nine and a veteran of Soyuz release abortions. Russian. ” And I’m excited to get on the rocket when the team makes the decision that it’s time to go. “
He said the education team at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, the day after the Starlink release anomaly “and all of a sudden, they took us into the verbal exchange and told us everything they knew. “
The Federal Aviation Administration, in authorizing the U. S. launches, agreed with the investigation into SpaceX’s failure and concluded that “no public protection considerations were involved. “
“This public protection ruling means that the Falcon nine vehicle can resume flight operations while the overall investigation remains open, provided all other licensing needs are met,” the FAA said in a statement.
In addition to providing an update on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 near-term plans, Walker also addressed an unforeseen factor with debris from sections of Crew Dragon’s trunk reaching the heat of reentry to hit the ground.
The trunk section, equipped with solar cells, helps propel the Crew Dragon into space and carries payloads from the orbiting outer station in an unpressurized environment.
Before returning, he drops the trunk. The team capsule, equipped with a heat shield, then fires its braking rockets to exit orbit and make a precision ocean landing. The trunk continues in a low orbit and eventually makes a runaway reentry.
At the start of the program, engineers concluded that the entire trunk would burn completely when the program re-entered. But on several occasions, giant chunks of charred debris survived the front and fell to the ground.
Astronauts returning from Crew Dragon and the recently introduced Dragon freighters have returned to their splashdowns off the coast of Florida, either in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.
Walker said SpaceX now plans to move all Crew Dragon shipments and landings to the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast. Sections of the trunk will now be discarded after the deorbited rocket is fired, making sure they fall back into the environment in more or less time. The same domain as the equipment and shipping capsules, which is a long way from the coast.