Falcon 9 fails to fire

The new rocket belonging to the company SpaceX attempted to ignite its engines as part of a test, without success.

 

The Falcon 9 rocket on its SLC-40 launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: SpaceX

On 9 March 2010, the SLC-40 launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, not far from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, should have been the stage for the first static test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

A failed firing... nominally!
SpaceX was created by Elon Musk who made a fortune by developing the PayPal payment system on the Internet. With his Falcon 1 (which succeeded in placing a small satellite in orbit on its fourth flight) and Falcon 9 rockets, the businessman has ambitions of significantly reducing the cost of space access. SpaceX is even under contract to NASA: if the Falcon 9 meets the American Space Agency’s specifications, Elon Musk and his teams will be granted a contract for more than 10 cargo flights to the International Space Station worth 1.6 billion dollars.
However, on 9 March, Falcon 9 was not meant to lift-off. It was a question of going through all the blast-off sequences, with the firing of the 9 first stage Merlin engines, but keeping the rocket on the ground. Such a rehearsal, known as a static test, makes it possible to assess the behaviour of all the systems in a real situation.

This brief flame seen when the countdown was halted resulted from the purging of the 9 first stage Merlin engines on the Falcon 9 that did not fire. Credit: SpaceX

But, 2 seconds before ignition, the control computers aborted the sequence. The flame seen and photographed (see above) is not indicative of a brief firing of the 9 engines: this was the combustion of the excess liquid oxygen and kerosene which escaped as the valves were automatically closed. Although the firing of the engines was obviously a failure, the countdown shutdown procedure and its safety operations (purging of the engines and tanks, etc.) did actually take place nominally, proof of the technical maturity of SpaceX’s teams.

From cargo to the Station to the transportation of astronauts
In its press release, Elon Musk’s company asserts that it is ready to proceed with another test in a few days time once the causes of the premature shutdown of the countdown have been identified. Over-confidence? Probably not, as we would point out that SpaceX has already successfully ignited the Falcon 9’s Merlin engines on more than one occasion using ground test benches. Nonetheless, the stakes resting on this static test, followed by the inaugural flight, go far beyond those of a new rocket. With the space policy recently initiated by President Barack Obama, NASA has now to call upon the services of the private sector for sending cargo, and even subsequently its astronauts, to the International Space Station! SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and its Dragon capsule are to date the most advanced private initiative in this field.

Placed in orbit by Falcon 9, the Dragon capsule (artist’s impression) is the solution put forward by SpaceX for sending cargo, and subsequently astronauts in a manned version, to the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX

Published on 10 March 2010