During a mission overview media conference for an upcoming Crew Dragon launch to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA's program manager for the Commercial Crew Program shared additional insights for the reasons behind a rare SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage anomaly earlier this month. The anomaly led to a grounding of SpaceX's workhorse rocket, and the firm announced yesterday that it is ready to fly again tomorrow after completing the required investigations to help the FAA determine that the fault does not pose a risk to human safety.
The briefing was for NASA and SpaceX's Crew-9 mission, SpaceX's fourth Dragon launch of 2024 and the 45th Dragon mission to the ISS to date.
SpaceX Will Run A Hot Fire Test Of Falcon 9 Second Stage Before Launching NASA Astronauts To ISS
During his opening remarks, Stich shared that the second stage for the Crew 9 mission is currently in McGregor, Texas, where it will undergo a hot fire by the end of this month. This test will evaluate SpaceX's changes on its second stage design after the anomaly. Stich added that "NASA has been following along step by step" with SpaceX's investigation with the FAA. He praised SpaceX's transparency during the process and outlined that NASA teams have been "embedded in the investigation" and kept track of all the changes made to the rocket.
Later, during the call, the NASA official added more details about the anomaly. A SpaceX press release late in the evening yesterday shared that a faulty clamp in a sense line in the second stage led to the failure. SpaceX revealed that this clamp eventually led to a liquid oxygen leak on the rocket, which cooled the engine's components and damaged them during a second burn.
SpaceX's Dragon mission management director, Sarah Walker, shared that the location where the fault occurred had "two connections instead of one, which was driven by a customer requirement on another mission." SpaceX "left it in that configuration for this flight," which led to a small crack developing in an area where liquid oxygen flows from the rocket's combustion chamber to allow a sensor to measure pressure. Walker added that this location "is a bit more susceptible to vibration as this rocket gimbals and fires," eventually leading to the liquid oxygen leaking and causing the anomaly.
NASA's Stich built on Walker's explanation and shared that it was great evidence of the "attention to detail that's required in spaceflight." Delving into the technical details, he outlined that "SpaceX made a small change to a different, a different transducer, there was an in house transducer pressure management for this particular sense line, attached to the sense line." These changes were made "probably" without "not knowing exactly how sensitive this area was to vibration. And, um, and how the insulation was attached and how this clamp was attached."
While SpaceX removed the clamp and ran an analysis, Stich revealed that while the analysis looked good on the surface, a combination of factors, such as the materials used and the tubing's manufacturing, were important factors for the accident. However, the NASA official went as far as to share that even his agency had "looked at the change and we didn't see any problems on the NASA side as well."
He praised SpaceX for "going back and looking at this area and any other areas on the vehicle that could have a similar problem" by running qualification tests similar to what it had done before but "maybe without having quite the thorough testing that" should have been carried out.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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