On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported SpaceX plans on releasing a first official report on the September launch accident that resulted in the destruction of one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The company expects to go back to business in December.
SpaceX’s upcoming report news follows the firm’s announcement of its plan to launch a global satellite network. The massive network of over 4,000 satellites would provide Internet speeds as much as 200 times faster than the current average provider worldwide.
The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has also been busy with the recent merger of his automaker Tesla and SolarCity, where he serves as Chairman. The joint enterprise aims at developing clean energy solutions with the latest tech at affordable prices.
What happened to SpaceX’s Falcon 9?
Sources close to the matter say the explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket on September 1 might have been due to an unexpected chemical reaction between components interacting in the fuel tank.
“Investigators believe a complex interaction between supercooled fuel and carbon composite material wrapped around the outside of helium containers resulted in a breach in one of those pressurized bottles,” claims The Wall Street Journal.
Scientists are trying to recreate the conditions of the incident. They hope they will find where the failure was. They have experimented with various degrees of pressure, temperature, and fuel amounts.
However, the objectivity of the investigation is paramount, which is why agents have also been examining the quality of the materials and the overall design of the Falcon 9 rocket. Anonymous informers claim investigators have found no wrongdoings on SpaceX’s part.
SpaceX is already hard at work on its next launches
Despite a significant setback on its launch plans and contracts with other agencies following the explosion of the Falcon 9, SpaceX wants to return to flight as soon as possible.
Space Exploration Technologies holds several launch contracts for different government agencies, most notably NASA.
The firm has carried packages for the space agency in the past as part of millionaire agreements to use SpaceX’s rockets to take cargo beyond our atmosphere.
We appreciate @NASA’s support and confidence https://t.co/9VPyICP8YV pic.twitter.com/SP9FuvGIPe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 22, 2016
Most recently, SpaceX is working on the reconditioning of a launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The facilities used for the failed launch on September are also undergoing repairs.
Elon Musk’s space venture recently won another contract with NASA for $112 million. SpaceX will launch a satellite to monitor oceans worldwide as part of NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission (SWOT).
Source: The Wall Street Journal
