After a rare flight anomaly earlier this month which led to the loss of its second stage Falcon 9, SpaceX is ready to fly its workhorse rocket once again on Saturday according to a fresh update from the company. In an X post and a press release, SpaceX highlighted that the reason behind the engine anomaly, which "damaged the the engine hardware" was a faulty sense line for the second stage engine's liquid oxygen supply. As part of remediation, SpaceX will remove this hardware from the second stage since it is not necessary for the Falcon 9's safety profile. Additionally, it has also 'proactively replaced' some hardware in "select locations" in its active booster fleet.
SpaceX Shares That Loose Clamp Led To Falcon 9's Second Stage Engine Anomaly
According to SpaceX, the Falcon 9 second stage developed a liquid oxygen leak due to a "a crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor" which cracked because of high "fatigue caused by high loading from engine vibration" due to a loose clamp that typically holds the line in place. These lines, also called impulse lines, protect sensors from extreme temperatures and vibrations in a system.
The liquid oxygen leak excessively cooled the second stage's Merlin engine's hardware. Within the hardware system, components responsible for pumping injection fluid to the engine were also affected, which then led to a "hard start" for the engine, shared the firm. Since hard starts generate excessive force, this damaged the engine hardware and led to the second stage being unable to control its orientation in space.
Following its investigation, SpaceX plans to conduct its next launch of the Falcon 9 on Saturday. Before the release earlier today, there were some hints that it was ready to return to flight as SpaceX static fired a Falcon 9.
As part of rectifications following the anomaly, SpaceX will remove the "failed sense line and sensor on the second stage engine." It has tested the design change at its facilities in McGregor, Texas with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also involved during the qualification analysis. SpaceX added that it evaluated its active booster fleet for similar anomalies and checked the rockets' sense lines and clamps. It shared that this review and inspection resulted in a "proactive replacement in select locations."
As a result of these inspections and the report which SpaceX submitted to the FAA, the firm believes that it can return to flight on Saturday. An update from the FAA outlines that "Falcon 9 vehicle can return to flight operations while the overall investigation remains open."
SpaceX's Falcon 9 has become America and the industry's work horse due to its rapid cadence fueled by booster reuse. Despite the second stage failure, the first stage booster has not malfunctioned during flight in years. This rocket is responsible for not only launching SpaceX's Starlink satellites, but also astronauts for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS) and national security launches for the Pentagon and other agencies.
Updated second last paragraph on 8:23:46 p.m. with details of the FAA's statement.
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