Sun, Mar 26, 2006
ANN has received an
update from the SpaceX team in the wake of Friday's failed attempt
to launch their inaugural Falcon 1 vehicle. While there will be a
formal US Government led anomaly investigation in partnership with
SpaceX, the company has updated ANN with some initial thoughts on
the failure of the Falcon 1's first launch attempt. Only the
government report issued by that team will reflect the fully
considered official opinion. The current update reflects only the
preliminary analysis of SpaceX and are provided pursuant to our
policy of early and full disclosure. The report was submitted by
SpaceX's Elon Musk.
SpaceX Statement On Falcon 1 Launch Accident
The good news is that all vehicle systems, including the main
engine, thrust vector control, structures, avionics, software,
guidance algorithm, etc. were picture perfect. Falcon's
trajectory was within 0.2 degrees of nominal during powered
flight.
However, at T+25s, a fuel leak of currently unknown origin caused a
fire around the top of the main engine that cut into the first
stage helium pneumatic system. On high resolution imagery,
the fire is clearly visible within seconds after liftoff.
Once the pneumatic pressure decayed below a critical value, the
spring return safety function of the pre-valves forced them closed,
shutting down the main engine at T+29s.
It does not appear as though the first stage insulation played a
negative role, nor are any other vehicle anomalies apparent from
either the telemetry or imaging. Falcon was executing
perfectly on all fronts until fire impaired the first stage
pneumatic system.
Our plan at this point is to analyze data and debris to be certain
that the above preliminary analysis is correct and then isolate and
address all possible causes for the fuel leak. In addition,
we will do another ground up systems review of the entire vehicle
to flush out any other potential issues.
I cannot predict exactly when the next flight will take place, as
that depends on the findings of this investigation and ensuring
that our next customer is comfortable that all reasonable steps
have been taken to ensure reliability. However, I would hope
that the next launch occurs in less than six months.
It is perhaps worth noting that those launch companies that
succeeded also took their lumps along the way. A friend of
mine wrote to remind me that only 5 of the first 9 Pegasus launches
succeeded; 3 of 5 for Ariane; 9 of 20 for Atlas; 9 of 21 for Soyuz;
and 9 of 18 for Proton. Having experienced firsthand how hard
it is to reach orbit, I have a lot of respect for those that
persevered to produce the vehicles that are mainstays of space
launch today.
I am very encouraged and grateful that our launch
customers took the time to call and express their support of SpaceX
when their reaction could easily have been the opposite. We
will stand by them as they have stood by us. SpaceX is in this
for the long haul and, come hell or high water, we are going to
make this work.
As SpaceX is a company that believes in maximum disclosure (within
the boundaries of proprietary data and ITAR restrictions), I will
try to post as much as possible about this launch attempt over the
coming weeks.
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