A catastrophic failure of the Falcon 9 rocket doomed a Starlink satellite launch, marking a rare setback for SpaceX and drawing an investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration that has put a hold on future missions. The accident occurred while the rocket was in the second stage of its flight when it ruptured, in the vernacular of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, due to a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of the engine.
“Upper stage restart to raise perigee resulted in an engine RUD for reasons currently unknown,” Musk posted Saturday on X, formerly known as Twitter. He added that the team was reviewing data to understand the root cause of the failure. While the Starlink satellites were jettisoned, their low orbit may prevent them from reaching their intended positions.
The failure has huge implications for SpaceX’s ambitious launch schedule. It had planned to launch businessman Jared Isaacman and his crew for the Polaris Dawn mission later this month, which featured the first spacewalks by nongovernment astronauts. NASA’s mission to send a new crew to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule around mid-August could be delayed also.
The Falcon 9 is one of the most reliable rockets in the world and had held a record of 344 consecutive successful flights before this; its last in-flight failure was in 2015. This latest incident broke that record. It took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying with it 20 Starlink satellites. Minutes after the rocket’s liftoff, there was unusual ice buildup on it, pointing to a possible liquid oxygen leak.
On-board cameras captured dramatic footage of the initial second stage burn with the engine nozzle glowing bright red against the dark backdrop of space. It continued to explode or disintegrate during a second planned burn before the rocket failure.
SpaceX later reported contact had been made with five of the 20 satellites, and ion thrusters were being used to raise their orbits. Musk tweeted that an upgrade to satellite software could extend the reach of the thrusters to their best possible performance, but he wasn’t wholly optimistic about success.
An FAA investigation of the incident has already begun. A spokesperson told local media: “We were monitoring an anomaly, involving the mishap of an upper-stage rocket in space; however, there are no reports of any injuries to the public or property.
Industry insiders remain optimistic about the overall record of the Falcon 9. Will Whitehorn, chairman of the venture capital outfit Seraphim Space Investment Trust, said that, as it stands, the Falcon 9 enjoys a much higher success rate than almost any other rocket that has ever been developed for mission success. Its robust engineering and quality control will be pivotal in pinning down and rectifying whatever caused this anomaly.
The repercussions of this failure could very easily affect several critical upcoming Falcon 9 missions in the wings, not least Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission. That said, considering SpaceX’s high cadence and ability to launch its payloads, there may just be hope for it to get up from this blow fairly quickly. The timeline and overall implications, however, remain to be seen.
The Falcon 9 engine failure has precipitated an FAA investigation that may delay some significant missions. While SpaceX, to date, has had a good record, it faces one big challenge: finding the cause of this anomaly and ensuring reliability going into future launches.