A ground support system valve failed to open seconds before a planned hot-fire test Tuesday of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, triggering an automatic abort before nine first-stage engines could ignite, the founder of SpaceX said in an e-mail today.The Falcon 9 system employs gaseous helium to initiate an engine start-up sequence called "Spin Start." High pressure helium from a storage tank at the pad is used to spin up the turbopump assemblies in the Merlin 1C engines to about 50 percent of operating speeds.
The spinning turbopumps force liquid oxygen and kerosene into the combustion chamber, where they are ignited. The hot gas from the combustion of the propellants bring the turbopumps up to full operating speed.
But on Tuesday. an isolation valve in a ground-side, high-pressure helium line remained closed when it was supposed to open, and that prevented turbopump assemblies within the engines from spinning up to several thousand RPM.
"The problem was pretty simple: our autostart sequence didn't issue the command to the normally closed ground side isolation valve," SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a e-mail message.
"We had tested everything on the vehicle side exhaustively in Texas, but didn't have this iso valve on our test stand there. Definitely a lesson learned to make sure that 'everything' is the same between test stand and launch pad on the ground side, not just on the vehicle side."
None of the engines ignited and the 18-story rocket was not damaged.
SpaceX aims to put the engines through a 3.5-second test-firing to verify the operation of ground support systems and demonstrate readiness for an inaugural launch now targeted for April 12. Musk noted the experimental nature of the ongoing Falcon 9 rocket development.
"It is important for readers to appreciate that what we are going through right now is the equivalent of 'beta testing,'" said Musk, who made his fortune after inventing the PayPal Internet payment system. "Problems are expected to occur, as they have throughout the development phase. The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three consecutive flights to orbit. “
High winds and heavy rain prevented the California-based company from conducting the test-firing today.
"If all goes well, we will try the static fire again in the next few days," Musk wrote.
The next opportunity would be on Friday during a four-hour window that would open at about 1 p.m. But stormy weather could prompt SpaceX to put off the operation to another day.
9 comments:
Seems like an expensive way to validate your launch sequencing software. This should have been picked up during one of design reviews, or were there any?
Hey, who put that stinking iso valve in my system?
It's sad that all of the MUD SLINGING to SpaceX is from disgruntled, never been part of a new development program, highly paid, low education, wanna be reseach engineers. Get a grip folks, this is really the way things happen when you are developing NEW TECHNOLOGY. The shuttle, the Deltas, the Atlas' are multi-generation old technolgy, that the disgruntled space worker's father's worked on. SpaceX is not your GOVERNMENT program. NASA 14.4 Billion, SpaceX 500 Million.
SpaceX 500 Million? Try $3.1 BILLION of our tax dollars going to SpaceX for unproven, UNMANNED space flight. 12 successful flights? Yeah, let's just see how that works out.
Florida Today:
"SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion NASA contract to launch 15 Falcon 9 flights – three flight tests and 12 missions to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. Contract options could increase the value of the deal to $3.1 billion."
Space X has also received very favorable treatment throughout from the Air Force.
Hello clueless:
The pintle injector technology at the heart of Merlin was first used in the Apollo Program
New technology?
I wonder if this had anything to do with Space X hiring tech's that have failed drug tests with other companies at the cape.
You get what you pay for, you hire drugies you get drugie results...I'm just sayin.
Marshall Lawrence can you please give us just one example of where SpaceX is developing NEW technology? In fact, they have the advantage of using proven technology developed through painful lessons learned by those before them.
It would be expensive if NASA was doing it. This is just part of testing.
New technology my left foot !! Pull the other one there's a big bell attached to it .!! Nothing new about it at all.
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