A Rare SpaceX Failure, and a Common Problem in China

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week’s newsletter is 681 words, a 5-minute read.

Table of Contents

• 1 Big Thing: A Rare SpaceX Failure

• 2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

• 3. Chinese Rockets Have a Huge Debris Problem

• 4. Upcoming Launches & Missions

1 Big Thing: A Rare SpaceX Failure

For the first time in what seems like forever, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket failed last week.

The rocket didn’t go up in a ball of flames, but its upper stage malfunctioned and failed to perform its second engine burn.

The Plan: The Falcon 9’s upper stage was supposed to complete a burn to raise its orbit, then deploy 20 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

Too Low: SpaceX’s workhorse rocket successfully deployed the Starlink satellites it was carrying, but it deployed them in an orbit with a perigee (lowest point) of ~80 miles.

Such a Drag: At 80 miles above the Earth’s surface, there’s still a lot of air to contend with, slowing the satellites down and causing them to burn up in the atmosphere.

• For reference, the International Space Station orbits Earth at an average altitude of approximately 250 miles.

• Even at that altitude, there’s enough atmospheric drag to slow the ISS down, which means it has to be re-boosted every few months to ensure it doesn’t fall back to Earth.

So, What Happened?: Engineers say that the Falcon 9’s upper stage malfunctioned due to a liquid oxygen leak, which explains the ice buildup seen on the rocket above.

Quite a Track Record: Falcon 9 has had over 300 consecutive successful launches up to this point.

• Because of this incident, the FAA will require SpaceX to ground its rockets before the conclusion of a thorough investigation and engineering fixes.

• This grounding could delay a lot of rocket launches, as SpaceX has become one of the key suppliers of launch services for countries and companies around the world.

2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

1. Microsoft lead a $40 million funding round for Armada, a company building data centers for SpaceX’s Starlink network. (SpaceNews)

2. A massive solar flare caused radio blackouts in Australia and Asia. (Space)

3. Scientists discovered an underground cave on the Moon where future Astronauts could live. (CBS)

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3. Chinese Rockets Have a Huge Debris Problem

On July 4th, China launched one of its Long March 6A rockets, carrying two remote sensing satellites into orbit.

Not long after, a Swiss company called S2a Systems detected a large grouping of objects surrounding the Chinese rocket.

It turns out that the objects represent a large debris cloud that doesn’t normally appear with other rockets.

Not So Sure: Nobody truly knows the cause of the debris clouds around Chinese rockets like this one, or what the debris is made of.

• S2a says the debris is likely broken insulation or remnants from stage separation.

Broken Record: Again and again, I’ve talked about the growing threat of space debris to people on Earth and to other spacecraft navigating low-Earth orbit.

• Whatever this debris is, it could cause serious issues down the road for manned and unmanned missions.

• The debris will be traveling approximately 4 miles per second, making a collision with the debris deadly despite its small size.

China doesn’t have a great track record with orbital debris, so there’s already international pressure for the country to clean up its act.

Back in December of last year, a Chinese rocket booster fell from space and crash landed near someone’s home.

4. Upcoming Launches & Missions

SPECIAL EXCITING NEWS: If you refer just 3 friends (used to be 5, now it’s 3) to my newsletter, I’ll send you a free copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s A Brief Welcome to the Universe. Use the link below to share and get credit for your referrals!

Thanks as always,

-Michael