A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company's internet satellites in such a low orbit that they are doomed to pass through the atmosphere and burn up.
A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday evening carrying 20 Starlink satellites. A few minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine failed. SpaceX blamed the incident on a liquid oxygen leak for Friday’s incident.
The company said flight controllers successfully contacted half of the satellites and tried to push them into higher orbit using onboard ion thrusters. But with the lower end of their orbit just 135 kilometers above Earth — less than half of what was planned — “it is unlikely that our maximum available altitude will be sufficient to successfully lift the satellites,” the company said via X.
SpaceX added that the satellites would re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. There was no mention of when they might land. More than 6,000 Starlinks in orbit are currently providing internet service to customers in some of the most remote parts of the world.
The FAA said the problem must be fixed before Falcon rockets can fly again.
It's not clear whether the incident will affect SpaceX's upcoming crewed flights. The billionaire is scheduled to fly the first private spacewalk from Florida on July 31, followed in mid-August by a NASA astronaut's trip to the International Space Station.
The technology entrepreneur who will pilot the private flight, Jared Isaacman, said Friday that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has a “proven track record” as well as an emergency escape system.
The last launch failure occurred in 2015 during a cargo flight to the space station. Another rocket exploded the following year during ground tests.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk claimed that the higher flight tempo would make it easier to identify and correct the problem.
