Produced by: Tarun Mishra
SpaceX's reliable Falcon 9 rocket faced an unusual anomaly during a mission to deploy Starlink internet satellites on Thursday night (July 11).
The Falcon 9 performed as planned initially, with its stages separating on schedule. The first stage successfully landed on a drone ship after liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
However, the rocket's upper stage, tasked with carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft into low Earth orbit, encountered a problem during its second burn.
According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the upper stage experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" (RUD) during an attempted restart to raise perigee, the point closest to Earth in an orbit.
Despite the anomaly, SpaceX managed to deploy the Starlink satellites, albeit into a lower-than-planned orbit.
SpaceX is actively communicating with the deployed satellites to utilize their ion thrusters in an attempt to raise their orbits.
During the flight, observers noted an unusual buildup of fluffy white material near the engine of the Falcon 9's upper stage, hinting at a potential propellant leak.
The Falcon 9 rocket is renowned for its reliability, with numerous successful launches. This incident marks a rare setback, as the rocket has encountered only one full in-flight failure in its operational history.
It remains uncertain how this incident will impact SpaceX's upcoming launches and the Falcon 9's manifest. Engineers are currently analyzing data to determine the root cause and plan for future missions. This launch aimed to expand SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation, which is crucial for global internet coverage, with ongoing efforts to increase the number of operational satellites.