FAA Allows Falcon 9 To Fly Again

JAKARTA - The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the Falcon 9 launch ban had been lifted on July 25. Now, SpaceX is allowed to return using the rocket. As reported by Reuters, the FAA explained that it did not find any public safety problems at the failed launch of Falcon 9. Therefore, Falcon 9 could be re-launched into space in the near future. The FAA issued a statement following an investigation report that had been completed by SpaceX. On the same day, the company owned by Elon Musk submitted a report on the Falcon 9 crash related to the launch anomaly on July 11. According to SpaceX, the team investigating this issue managed to find the most likely cause. From the results of the investigation, it is known that the first burning of the second phase engine was running faster due to leakage of liquid oxygen. This leak occurred in isolation that was around the upper stage engine. As a result of this leak, the sensing channel with a pressure sensor installed in the vehicle oxygen system cracked. "This channel is cracked due to fatigue caused by high load of engine vibrations and leeways at the CLAM that usually restricts channels," explained SpaceX through its official website.

The leak of liquid oxygen causes excessive cooling to the engine components so that the engine starts hard at the wrong time. This action damaged the engine hardware and the upper stage lost control of the direction. "However, the second phase continues to operate according to design, deploy the Starlink satellite and successfully complete the phase passivation, the energy disposal process stored at the stage, which occurs at the end of each Falcon mission," SpaceX said. After knowing the cause of the Falcon 9 launch failure, SpaceX will eliminate faulty sensor lines and sensors in the second phase engine. The company will use an alternative sensor already in the engine.