The launch and landing of a SpaceX rocket on July 18,
2016.
Nearly two months after a September 1 accident on the
launch pad, SpaceX says it is nearing the conclusion of
its investigation. Although the company has yet to
identify the "exact root cause" of the accident that
occurred during a static fire test just prior to a
planned launch of a communications satellite, the
investigation has reached an "advanced state."
Shortly after the fiery incident, the company focused
on a breach in the cryogenic helium system of the
rocket's upper stage liquid oxygen tank. "Attention has
continued to narrow to one of the three composite
overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) inside the LOX
tank," the company stated in
an update released Friday afternoon. "Through extensive
testing in Texas, SpaceX has shown that it can re-create
a COPV failure entirely through helium loading
conditions. These conditions are mainly affected by the
temperature and pressure of the helium being loaded."
SpaceX intends to continue work to identify the
precise cause of the accident and to improve its method
of loading helium onto the rocket to prevent a repeat
failure. The company also plans to resume testing Falcon
9 rocket stages at its facility in McGregor, Texas,
soon. By taking this step in early November, SpaceX
maintains that it is on track to resume flight
operations of its Falcon 9 rocket before the end of
2016.
According to company founder Elon Musk, this
accident has turned out to be "the most difficult and
complex failure we have ever had in 14 years." This is
because the failure occurred during a very short period
of time, with just 93 milliseconds passing between the
initial sign of an anomaly to a loss of data. The lack
of a definitive root cause has prompted all sorts of
wild theories, including a sniper from a competitor's
facilities at Cape Canaveral. To date, those ideas have
largely been debunked.
The fact that the cause of the September 1 failure
was likely due to issues with handling helium, rather
than a design issue with the rocket itself, may give the
company and its customers confidence in resuming flight
within just a few months of the accident. During the
incident, SpaceX lost its entire Falcon 9 rocket as well
as the AMOS-6 satellite payload, which was already
affixed to the launch vehicle.
Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor
at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to
private space to wonky NASA policy. A certified
meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/10/spacex-says-it-remains-on-track-to-return-to-flight-by-years-end/