SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket recently experienced an inflight failure, leading to a rare misfire for the company’s reliable workhorse vehicle. The incident occurred during the “Starlink Group 9-3” mission, which launched from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base and aimed to deliver 20 satellites to low Earth orbit.
While the lower first stage of the rocket performed as expected and successfully returned to land, the upper second stage encountered a problem. It failed to reignite its engine as planned and was subsequently destroyed. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the failure and referred to it as an “engine RUD” (rapid unscheduled disassembly), which is the company’s term for an explosive or destructive event.
As a result of this incident, Falcon 9 is currently grounded pending an investigation by SpaceX. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be involved in every step of the investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions. This means that launches planned in the upcoming weeks, including two crewed missions (Polaris Dawn and NASA’s Crew-9), will likely face delays.
Despite the upper stage failure, SpaceX was still able to deploy the 20 Starlink satellites. However, due to the engine issue, these satellites are in a lower orbit than intended. SpaceX has made contact with five of the satellites so far and is attempting to use their onboard thrusters to climb higher in orbit and avoid burning up in the atmosphere. Musk expressed some skepticism about this approach but mentioned that it’s worth a try.
The recent failure of Falcon 9 is a significant event considering the rocket’s impeccable track record. Prior to this incident, Falcon 9 had achieved over 300 consecutive successful orbital launches since its last inflight failure in 2015. In fact, Falcon 9 has launched a total of 354 missions to orbit, with over 300 successful landings and the reuse of rocket boosters more than 280 times.
This incident serves as a reminder that even the most reliable space vehicles can experience failures. SpaceX’s rigorous investigation process, in collaboration with the FAA, will be crucial in identifying the root cause of the failure and implementing necessary corrective actions to prevent similar incidents in the future. As space exploration and satellite deployment continue to expand, maintaining a high level of safety and reliability is paramount.
