Ilon Musk: SpaceX launches will resume in mid-December, the cause of the Falcon 9 explosion is determined

On September 1 of this year, the launch vehicle Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad. Immediately after this, it was reported that SpaceX could suspend flights for 9-12 months, since the causes of the incident will need to be investigated and studied for a long time. Two weeks later, the company announced that it was going to resume flights in November. "We expect ... a stop for about three months with the resumption of flights around November," said Gwynn Shotwell on September 13.

The other day Ilon Mask said that the cause of the explosion was found, and the flights are likely to be resumed already in mid-December. “I think we found out the reason for what happened. The most interesting thing is that nothing like this has ever happened in rocket science, ”said Musk. He also told that the problem turned out to be really difficult - the most difficult of all that SpaceX had to solve for all its existence.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle together with its cargo, a satellite worth $ 200 million, was destroyed due to a series of explosions on the launch pad. Moreover, the rocket exploded before the start of the engines - on this day the company carried out a scheduled inspection of all systems. The launch was to take place in two days.
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The incident complicated the life of NASA, since the agency had a contract with SpaceX for the delivery of cargo to the ISS. Accordingly, this month was to start the ship with cargo for the station, but this, for obvious reasons, did not happen. NASA had to transfer the task of the previously scheduled delivery of cargo to the ISS of another company, Orbital ATK . A new launch should be made next spring.

SpaceX should also begin delivering astronauts to the orbital station early next year.

On September 23, the company announced the official version of the cause of the explosion of its rocket on the launch pad. It lies in a crack in the supply system of heated helium in a tank with liquid oxygen for pressurization installed at the second stage of the rocket. True, then SpaceX spokesman Dex Torrike-Barton did not clarify the essence of the problem.

Ilon Musk on Friday said that the problem arose during refueling. Liquid oxygen entered the second-stage tank, cooled to such an extent that the liquid passed into the solid phase. In the end, all this led to a domino effect, the failure of a number of systems that caused the explosion.

This week, the company issued a statement saying that the investigation is now focused on studying one of the three helium tanks in the oxygen tank. Heated helium was used to maintain pressure in the tank. The company decided to simulate the situation by checking helium containers made of carbon composites. During the tests, the emergency situation was really able to be repeated.

“The problem is complex, it includes liquid helium, carbon composites and solid oxygen. Oxygen has cooled so much that it has entered a solid phase, ” said Musk. Unfortunately, the head of SpaceX did not provide technical details on the effect of solid oxygen on carbon composites.

In December 2015, SpaceX updated the Falcon 9 configuration. Super-cooled liquid oxygen was used in the system. According to the developers , lower temperatures make oxygen more dense, which improves traction. If the helium was liquid, this could lead to additional cooling of oxygen, which for this reason passed into the solid phase.

The accidents of SpaceX missiles do not happen often, but they cannot be called rare either. True, most of the incidents - the destruction of the returned steps Falcon 9 during landing. The most serious accident before September 1 is the Falcon 9 blast in the air 2 minutes after the start. As a result of that disaster, the cargo for the ISS was lost.


Last week, experts criticized SpaceX for planning to bring an astronaut team on board before refueling the rocket. The company management stated that the process of refueling with supercooled fuel is fast, and therefore astronauts should be loaded aboard until the full refueling of the rocket. Opponents of SpaceX plans stated that such a method "contradicts safety rules that have been in operation for more than 50 years, both in the US and outside the country."

SpaceX representatives said that changes in the procedure eliminate the possibility of a repetition of the incident, and a special system will deliver the astronauts to a safe place in case of problems with the rocket.

Regarding the Falcon 9 launch plan, the guide does not indicate the exact date for the resumption of flights into orbit. The accident damaged the launch pad for the LC-40 site at Cape Canaveral, which the company used to launch rockets. SpaceX rents this site from NASA. Another site is also being updated, in the Kennedy Space Center.

Nevertheless, Musk said that he hoped for the resumption of Falcon 9 starts in mid-December of this year.

The head of Spaceb's competitor, Orbital ATK, said that NASA is now considering using an Atlas 5 rocket instead of the Antares rocket. This will increase the mass of payload by 300 kilograms.