On January 14th 2017, SpaceX made a successful return to space flight with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 next generation telephone satellites for the Iridium wireless communications company. The launch took place at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. It was the first launch since the loss of a Facebook satellite, which was destroyed when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Florida on September 1st, 2016.
The accident in September 2016, caused SpaceX to temporarily ground all mission launches while NASA and several other federal agencies investigated the incident. On January 2nd 2016, the cause of September's explosion was determined to be due to broken carbon fibers in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel or COPV. The COPV in question, led to the upper oxygen tank, which contained super cooled liquid oxygen propellant.
The COPV carried liquid helium, which is used to pressurize the fuel tank. The investigators determined that the COPV had an aluminum liner that buckled. This allowed liquid oxygen to get between the the carbon fibers and the aluminum where it pooled. They believe that the helium from the COPV was so cold that it caused the liquid oxygen to turn into a solid. Then, friction from the ruptured carbon fibers may have provided the spark that caused the explosion.
When the FAA reviewed SpaceX's finding they issued them a license which allowed them to continue with rocket launches. The successful launch on January 14th was followed by a successful landing of the Falcon 9 on the company's drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, which were also two firsts for SpaceX. With those successes and a backlog of customers, SpaceX is looking forward to a busy year in 2017.
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