SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink Internet satellites from California on Thursday, but the engine powering the rocket’s second stage suffered a catastrophic failure, if not an explosion, during a final “burn” attempt to raise the low point of orbit. The company’s founder, Elon Musk, posted on X early Friday morning.
Musk refers to the anomaly as “RUD,” which stands for “rapid unplanned extraction.”
“An upper level restart to raise perigee resulted in an engine RUD for currently unknown reasons,” he told X. “The team is reviewing the data tonight to try to understand the root cause. The Starlink satellites were deployed, but perigee (orbital low point) may be higher and they will be able to raise the orbit in a few more hours.”
An engine RUD for currently unknown reasons is an upper stage restart to raise perigee. The team is reviewing the data tonight to understand the root cause.
Starlink satellites were used, but perigee was probably too low for them to lift into orbit. Will know in a few hours.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2024
SpaceX later said flight controllers had contacted five of the 20 Starlinks that launched Thursday “and are attempting to raise them into orbit using their ion thrusters.”
The Starlink team is busy “updating the satellite software to run the ion thrusters at their Warp 9 equivalent. Unlike a Star Trek episode, it won’t work, but it’s worth a shot. Satellite thrusters need to raise orbit faster. Atmospheric drag pulls them down or burns up.”
The outage will affect plans to launch entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and three crew members on a commercial flight aboard Falcon 9 later this month, which could include the first spacewalks by non-government astronauts. It could also affect NASA’s plans to send a new crew to the International Space Station on Aug. 19 aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
SpaceX’s high flight rate and ability to launch its own payloads — the Starlinks — will allow the company to recover in a very short period of time. But it has to be seen.
Falcon 9, using the first stage of its 19th flight, blasted off from Pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles at 10:35 p.m. EDT, climbing through thick fog on a southern runway. Two and a half minutes later, the first stage dropped and a successful droneship flew to land, while the second stage continued its ascent into space.
SpaceX
Starlink launches require two firings of the secondary vacuum-rated Merlin engine. The first shot was timed eight and a half minutes after boarding.
Live video from on-board cameras showed dramatic footage of that initial second-stage “burn,” with the engine tip glowing bright red against the dark background of space. Cameras showed unusual ice patches on the sides of the rocket, and cold clumps breaking off and evaporating in the engine’s fiery but visible exhaust.
Ice clumps aren’t uncommon on rockets, but the amount seen during Jupiter’s launch was more significant than that seen on previous flights, suggesting something was wrong.
But in accordance with SpaceX policy for Starlink releases, live video and commentary posted on social media platform X showed secondary engine shutdown about eight minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff. Done after 1 confirmed.
The agency typically posts confirmation of payload deployment after the final 1-second firing of the second stage engine to raise the low point of the orbit. The payload will be deployed approximately 45 minutes after the first firing, seven minutes after launch, or approximately 59 minutes after launch. But no such confirmation has been released on X. Musk’s tweet came at 12:35 p.m
Falcon 9 is one of the most reliable rockets in the world. Thursday’s launch was SpaceX’s 69th Falcon 9 flight this year and the 354th since the rocket’s debut in 2010. Going into the latest launch, SpaceX has pulled off 344 successful Falcon 9 flights in a row following the company’s only flight failure in 2015.
Going into Jupiter’s flight, SpaceX launched 6,720 Starlinks on 181 Falcon 9 flights, of which about 6,200 are thought to be operational, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and space statistician. Losing a batch of Starlinks wouldn’t be a major setback for SpaceX, but it could disrupt the company’s rapid-fire launch lineup.
Company officials said earlier this year that it plans to launch more than 140 flights this year.
