According to Space.com’s report, a rare anomaly occurred in the Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday night. Initially everything was fine. As planned, the rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites.
As always, the rocket performed well and both stages of the rocket separated at their respective timings and returned to land. The company’s CEO Elon Musk has said that the upper stage of the rocket, which was going to the low-Earth orbit of the Earth carrying 20 Starlink satellites, had a problem.
It is said that restarting the upper stage caused a problem with the RUD in the engine. The reason for this is not known. The SpaceX team is analyzing the data. It is believed that the upper stage of the rocket could not reach as far as it should have. In such a situation, it seems difficult for the Starlink satellites to reach the low-earth orbit.
In a post, SpaceX has said that the Starlink satellites have been deployed at a lower altitude than their designated orbit. SpaceX has so far contacted 5 satellites and is trying to raise the satellites into orbit using their ion thrusters.
During tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink, the second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit.
SpaceX has made contact with 5 of the satellites so far and is attempting to have them…
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 12, 2024
In the RUD problem in the engine, RUD means rapid unwanted disassembly. Currently, the status of the Starlink satellites is being checked to see where they are. This is the first time such a problem has been seen in the Falcon-9 rocket. In the year 2024, it has done around 68 launches and all were successful. So far in its history, it has failed completely only once.