Remember that unfortunate incident with SpaceX Falcon 9 last year? The rocket exploded on September 2016, causing the destruction of Facebook’s first satellite, Internet.org, that was supposed to orbit. Aside from the rocket, the payload and the launch pad were also destroyed.Fortunately, no reports of personnel injuries occurred.
Elon Musk’s company was supposed to have the Falcon 9 back in action last November but things didn’t really work out the way Musk wanted it to be.
Source: SpaceX
Now, SpaceX is getting ready to launch the Falcon 9 again. The company targets January 8 to have Falcon 9 soaring straight towards space. Investigations held by SpaceX, the US Air Force, The Federal Aviation Administration and NASA were conducted to find out what caused the explosion. The investigation concluded with results showing that the explosion started with the helium tanks that sit inside the oxygen tanks. These tanks were located at the rocket’s second stage.
In an attempt to fix the problem, warmer helium will be used and SpaceX will use its previous configuration. If the rocket’s launch becomes successful, the Falcon 9 will be carrying 10 Iridium telephone relay satellites into orbit.
Source: SpaceX
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