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
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, February 2
First launch of Ariane 6 with four boosters
ESA — 6:37 am ET (1137 GMT) Europe’s digital Earth gets ready to grow user community
ESA — 6:37 am ET (1137 GMT) Inside the high-stakes battle over Space Force advocacy
Washington Times — 6:34 am ET (1134 GMT) SpaceX rocket launch planned Monday morning at Vandenberg Space Force Base
KSBY-TV San Luis Obispo, CA — 6:32 am ET (1132 GMT) SpaceX Plans Data Center Satellite Constellation
Aviation Week — 6:30 am ET (1130 GMT) |
