SpaceX Explains Latest Starlink Satellite Launch Failure

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 second stage, launched last year with 20 Starlink satellites, completed its first burn normally, but the second stage suffered a liquid oxygen leak, the launch company has now confirmed.

After a scheduled restart of the booster engine to raise the perigee (or lowest point of the orbit) The Merlin vacuum engine experienced an anomaly and was unable to complete the second burn. Although the stage survived and still deployed the satellites, it did not reach its orbit, but was positioned as usual at the end of each mission. This left the satellites in an eccentric orbit with a very low perigee of 135 kilometers, less than half the expected perigee altitude.

The team worked all night to establish contact with the satellites and send them commands to turn on. but the satellites were left in an environment of enormous drag just 135 kilometers above the Earth (each perigee pass removed more than five kilometers of altitude from the apogee, or the highest point in the satellite’s orbit). With this level of drag, it is unlikely that our maximum available thrust would be enough to successfully lift the satellites. Therefore, The satellites will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and disappear completely. They pose no threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.

The Falcon 9’s first stage performed normally, launching the second stage and the Starlink satellites into orbit, separating from the second stage as expected, and returning to Earth for a successful landing on an ocean-going platform, representing the 329th orbital recovery of SpaceX’s class rocket to date.

“This event is a reminder of how technically challenging space flight is“To date, we have completed 364 successful Falcon launches, safely delivering astronauts, customer payloads, and thousands of Starlink satellites into orbit, making the Falcon family of rockets one of the most reliable in the world,” the launch company said in a statement.

SpaceX will conduct a full investigation in coordination with the FAA, determine the root cause, and take corrective actions to ensure the success of future missions. With our robust satellite and rocket manufacturing capabilities and high launch cadence, we can recover quickly and continue to be the busiest launch provider in the world.