SpaceX identifies cause of launch abort
Posted: Sun, Nov 1, 2020, 12:42 PM ET (1742 GMT)
SpaceX says it's tracked down the cause of an aborted Falcon 9 launch early this month. The Oct. 2 launch of a GPS 3 satellite was stopped at the last second because of a problem with a gas generator in one of the rocket's Merlin engines. At a briefing Wednesday, SpaceX said a relief valve in the rocket was blocked by "masking lacquer", similar to nail polish, that was not properly cleaned out during the manufacturing process. SpaceX is replacing two Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 booster that will launch NASA's Crew-1 commercial crew mission because they showed similar behavior in testing to the engine from the GPS launch attempt. NASA has rescheduled the Crew-1 launch for the evening of Nov. 14.
SpaceX says it's tracked down the cause of an aborted Falcon 9 launch early this month. The Oct. 2 launch of a GPS 3 satellite was stopped at the last second because of a problem with a gas generator in one of the rocket's Merlin engines. At a briefing Wednesday, SpaceX said a relief valve in the rocket was blocked by "masking lacquer", similar to nail polish, that was not properly cleaned out during the manufacturing process. SpaceX is replacing two Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 booster that will launch NASA's Crew-1 commercial crew mission because they showed similar behavior in testing to the engine from the GPS launch attempt. NASA has rescheduled the Crew-1 launch for the evening of Nov. 14.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, September 15
Elon Musk's Starlink reports service outage, thousands of users affected
Reuters — 1:23 am ET (0523 GMT) What does the loss of U.S. Space Command mean to Colorado Springs?
Denver Post — 1:21 am ET (0521 GMT) SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman Cargo Ship To ISS
Aviation Week — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) Apollo 13 made Jim Lovell a legend generations after the space race
The Hill — 1:09 am ET (0509 GMT) |
