SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Friday his
space launch company is aiming to return its rockets to flight in
mid-December following a launch pad accident two months
ago.
Musk said investigators had figured out why a Falcon 9 rocket
burst into flames on Sept. 1 as it was being fueled for a routine,
preflight test.
The accident destroyed a $200 million Israeli communications
satellite and grounded the Falcon 9 fleet for the second time in 14
months.
The cause of the accident was a fueling system issue that
inadvertently produced solid oxygen inside the rocket’s upper stage
tank. The oxygen then reacted with a carbon composite bottle
containing liquid helium that sits inside the oxygen tank,
triggering an explosion.
"I think we’ve gotten to the bottom of the problem," said Musk,
who is also chief executive of Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O). He added
that the issue had never been encountered in the history of
rocketry.
Musk did not specify what mission would launch next, nor whether
SpaceX would fly from a new launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, or from its West Coast site at Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California.
SpaceX’s primary launch pad, located just south of Kennedy Space
Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, was damaged in the
Sept. 1 accident. SpaceX has declined to release details on the
extent of damage.
The company has a backlog of about 70 missions, worth more than
$10 billion.
Also on Friday, NASA and Orbital ATK Inc (OA.N) said Orbital’s
next cargo run to the International Space Station would use the
heavier-lift Atlas 5 rocket, made by United Launch Alliance, rather
than Orbital’s Antares booster. The switch will allow NASA to fly
an extra 660 pounds (300 kg) of cargo to the station while SpaceX
returns to flight.
NASA hired Orbital and SpaceX to fly cargo to the station after
the shuttles were retired in 2011.
Terms of Orbital’s contract with United Launch Alliance, a
partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N),
were not released. The launch is targeted for early 2017, NASA
said.