Disaster! SpaceX B1086 Damaged Recovered Revealed Why Falcon 9 Landing Failed...

while the world eagerly awaits the launch of Starship flight 8 at Starbase Texas SpaceX is facing a serious issue with its Falcon 9 rocket on the East Coast after completing its launch mission the Falcon 9 booster has now arrived at Port Canaveral with melted Landing legs serving as clear evidence of this new anomaly so what exactly happened how will this issue impact spacex's future missions let's find out on today's episode of alphatech a scorched and disfigured Falcon 9 arrived at Port Canaveral Wednesday a rare sight among the routine space Hardware that regularly comes through the port take a close look at this incredibly detailed photo The Landing legs are stuck up in the air and the melted body of the rocket hangs off the side of the Drone ship making the first stage booster nearly unrecognizable to Casual observers the only Telltale sign that the object had been a Falcon 9 rocket was the nine engines still intact SpaceX usually successfully lands the first stage of their Falcon 9 Rockets but this one had experienced a rare ACD inent after Sunday night's starlink launch it appeared to be a routine starlink Mission with the booster Landing as planned just over 8 minutes into the mission after lifting off from Cape Canaveral space launch complex 40 the SpaceX live video showed this footage for a few seconds after the 9:30 p.m. landing on the just read the instructions drone ship before cutting back to the animation of the Rocket's second stage ascending to orbit however not all went smoothly once the cameras were turned off according to space x a fire broke out in the bottom part of the first stage booster which damaged The Landing leg this caused the booster to tip over onto the Drone ship following the successful Landing an off-nominal fire in the AFT end of the rocket damaged one of the booster's landing legs which resulted in it tipping over just read the instructions was stationed approximately 250 Mi off the coast of Florida on the Atlantic Ocean at the time therefore the fire was not a threat back at Port Canaveral the Drone ship experienced a short hold Wednesday for Coast Guard clearance before entering the port with the battered booster it waited out in the Turning Basin for a bit before proceeding to its usual parking spot by the industrial cranes the starlink satellites were not impacted and the mission was considered successful but the booster was a total loss while disappointing to lose a rocket after a successful Mission the team will use the data to make Falcon even more reliable on ascent and Landing SpaceX said in a statement on its website booster 1086 was unfortunately lost last night after a successful Landing posted Kiko donev vice president of launch at SpaceX every failure is an opportunity to learn this setback will not only improve the reliability of Falcon 9 but of all vehicles SpaceX this was only the fifth flight of b1086 a modest number given that the current record for flights by a falcon 9 booster is 26 the booster was originally built as a falcon heavy side booster and used on the June 2024 launch of the go u weather satellite it was then converted into a falcon 9 booster launching two starlink missions and another carrying a pair of Max R's worldview Legion satellites before this Mission The Landing failure is the latest in a series of incidents involving the Falcon 9 which has become a Workhorse for SpaceX and much of the rest of the space industry another Falcon 9 booster crashed while landing on a drone ship in August 2024 briefly pausing launches there have been several incidents involving Falcon 9 upper stages including one in July 2024 that resulted in the loss of its payload of starlink satellites that incident halted Falcon 9 launches for about 2 weeks two other Falcon 9 launches suffered problems with deorbit burns after payload deployment the first on the crew 9 launch in September 2024 paused Falcon 9 launches again for about 2 weeks except one mission to interplanetary space that did not require a deorbit burn another on a February 1 launch of starlink satellites resulted in the upper stage re-entering over Europe February 19 with debris Landing in Western Poland that incident did not result in any Halt and Falcon 9 launches mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration at a February 26 NASA briefing hours before the successful Falcon 9 launch of the im2 lunar lander for intuitive machines Bill Geren Meer SpaceX vice president for build and flight reliability said the company had been looking into an issue with the nozzle of the Merlin engine used in the Falcon 9 upper stage we saw potentially a manufacturing defect that could have showed up in the nozzle he said of an upper stage being produced at the company's Hawthorne California Factory that kind of makes us question all the nozzles and make sure they're cleared that issue he said turned out to be isolated to the one nozzle in the factory something the company confirmed through checks of paperwork tracking the manufacturing and testing of other nozzles whenever we discover something here that looks a little strange we'll pause a a little bit take a look dig into the data and make sure we really have solid flight rationale meanwhile issues with a falcon 9 have delayed another NASA Mission carrying the sphex astronomy spacecraft and four punch space science satellites that launch once scheduled for February 27 has slipped to no earlier than March 4th NASA has cited work on the Falcon 9 including the need for additional time to evaluate launch vehicle Hardware data as reasons for the launch slips NASA had rescheduled a pre-launch briefing for the mission for the afternoon of March 3rd but in a statement late March 2 before the starlink launch NASA announced that the briefing would not take place as planned the agency will share more information as soon as possible the agency stated as of early afternoon March 3rd NASA has not shared additional information or confirmed that the launch will continue as planned March 4th meanwhile the federal Avi ation Administration provided the following comment on Wednesday the FAA is aware of the anomaly that occurred during the SpaceX starlink 12 to20 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida on March 2nd the event involved the loss of the Falcon 9 first stage booster following a successful drone ship landing at Sea the FAA determined the event happened during licensed activities and declared it a mishap SpaceX is required to per form a mishap investigation and submit the final report to the FAA perhaps this incident will not be too serious for spacex's future launch operations as for the FAA they have approved basc to continue operations on Tuesday amidst the less than ideal developments in Florida spacex's Starship program in Texas is charging ahead with a newly announced launch schedule for Starship flight 8 according to the private space company this eighth flight test is set for Thursday March 6th 2025 today with the launch window opening at 5:30 p.m. CT this Milestone follows spacex's thorough investigation into the loss of the Starship upper stage during flight 7 showcasing its Relentless drive to refine and perfect the world's most ambitious reusable rocket system for flight 8 Starship will embark on a suborbital journey carrying its first ever payload four starlink simulators designed to burn up upon re-entry this Mission marks a significant step forward forward testing the vehicle's ability to deploy cargo while pushing the boundaries of its engineering the flight plan includes a single Raptor engine relight in space a critical test for future orbital missions alongside re-entry experiments aimed at Gathering data to enable the upper stage's eventual return and catch at the Texas launch site meanwhile the super heavy booster will launch perform a boost back burn and attempt a daring catch by the tower's massive mechanical Chopsticks should any health checks on the boo booster or Tower raise concerns or if the flight director denies final approval the booster will pivot to a backup plan targeting a gentle splash down in the Gulf of Mexico those near The Landing Zone can expect to hear Sonic booms as the booster makes its return SpaceX has introduced several upgrades for this flight reflecting lessons learned from previous tests the Starship upper stage now boasts redesigned forward flaps to better withstand re-entry heat while simplifying their mechanics alongside a 25% increase in propellant capacity for extended mission to push the vehicle's limits SpaceX has deliberately removed heat shield tiles from Key areas stress testing vulnerable spots the re-entry profile is engineered to challenge the structural Integrity of the upper stages rear flaps particularly at the peak of dynamic pressure a bold move to ensure the design can handle the rigors of future flights the super heavy booster isn't lagging behind either it's been equipped with cuttingedge avionics a more robust flight computer improved power and network systems an integrated smart batteries enhancements that boost reliability and performance as SpaceX edges closer to its goal of fully reusable space flight connecting the dots flight 8 isn't just another test it's a pivotal moment in spacex's Journey to revolutionize space travel with each tweak from the upper stages propulsion boost to the booster high-tech upgrades the company is laying the groundwork for a future where Starship could FY payloads and eventually humans to orbit and Beyond wrapping up the great news about SpaceX let's turn to new highlight from Firefly Aerospace the private company that has been making waves in recent days its Blu ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon's surface as we detailed in our previous episode make sure to check it out if you missed it fresh off its lunar lander success Firefly Aerospace has now been selected by NASA to launch a trio of earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms the agency said March 4th that it awarded a task order through its Venture class acquisition of dedicated and ride share VH Dr contract to Firefly to launch the three satellite investigation of convective updrafts incus mission NASA did not disclose the value of the task order a practice that is followed on other vadr Awards the incus satellites will launch on a firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia NASA did not disclose a launch date in its announcement but Firefly in its own statement said the launch would take place as soon as 2026 the inquest mission is working toward a launch in October 2026 according to its website incus will fly three small SATs each weighing about 100 kg using a blue Canyon Technologies bus the satellites will be equipped with K Band Radars to study Cloud convection to better understand the formation of storms one of the spacecraft will also have a microwave radiometer to track larger scale weather conditions the spacecraft will fly in formation with the second spacecraft flying 30 seconds behind the first and the third 90 seconds behind the second to help scientists measure vertical transport within the storms we strategically built our 1 metric ton Alpha rocket to support dedicated missions like incus Jason Kim chief executive of firefly Aerospace said in a statement this allows our customers to place their satellites in the exact orbit they need and use their mission critical resources to immediately begin conducting research and making advancements in science Firefly said it will launch the mission from pad 0a at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on wups Island Virginia which has been used by northr grumman's an Terry's rocket and will also be used by Alpha and the future MLV rocket Adam Oaks vice president of launch vehicles at Firefly said at a conference in January that the first Alpha launch from wups was projected for early 2026 Oaks said at the same event that Firefly was planning five Alpha launches in 2025 all from Vandenberg space Force Base the site of all the company's Alpha launches to date the first of those carrying a Lockheed Martin LM 400 satellite is expected to take take place in about 2 weeks Kim said during an interview on March 2nd after the successful Landing of the company's Blue Ghost one lunar lander we're going to launch more than once a quarter this year he projected moving into double- digigit launches of alpha next year the company has large contracts with L3 Harris and locked Martin for the vehicle along with a contract last month from the space force for the victus Saul responsive space mission that's all for today's episode thank you so much for watching and see you next time