SpaceX Updates (Thread 8)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

This one made me laugh....

 

LAPAN: Mysterious object in Sumenep Suspected Denomination Rocket

 

Quote

Jakarta - National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) suspect object that fell from the sky in Sumenep, East Java is a fraction rocket. The rocket is a rocket Falcon 9 belonging to the United States. 

 

"We've analysis, the object is a strong presumption Falcon 9 rocket fragments with serial number 41 730," said Chief Thomas Lapan Jamaladin while talking on Monday (26/09/2016). 

 

The rocket Falcon the Madura is expected across the sky at about 9:21 pm at a height of 129 KM. Not yet known what charge carried by the rocket. 

"The charge has not been checked, but it seems the rocket experiments," said Thomas. Read Also: Benda Suspicious in Sumenep overwriting Cage Cattle, Concerned Citizens Exploding Earlier, an object in the form of a cylindrical tube over 1.5 meters and a diameter of 60 centimeters fell in the District of Gili King and Giligenting, Sumenep, East Java. Some objects fall from the sky around 10:00 am. The tube was wrapped in a kind of fiber. No two pieces are found in the waters and two on the ground. Initially, residents suspected it was the best part. MoT, AirNav, and Juanda made sure there was no aircraft in the sky passed Sumenep

http://news.detik.com/berita/d-3307300/lapan-benda-misterius-di-sumenep-diduga-pecahan-roket?_ga=1.128457740.1436014535.1422939899#

 

COPV

 

These puppies can slam into the ground from a higher orbit and look pretty good....but a new one, on the ground though, a bit cranky....

[FloatingFatMan]

Who on Earth wrote that article? The English is so mangled I can barely make head nor tails out of it!

[+John. Subscriber¹]

2 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

Who on Earth wrote that article? The English is so mangled I can barely make head nor tails out of it!

It's been translated (ish) from Indonesian to English I think

[DocM]

Google Translate, IMO.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The above was a real botched translate...but with a bit of digging...rocket parts...SpaceX...land on beach.....

 

Google translate does a reasonable job....most times....it went on coffee break there though.

 

A better article...

 

SpaceX Rocket Parts Rain Down over Indonesia

 

Photo: Ekliptika Blog via Tribunnews

 

Quote

Large rocket parts rained down over a pair of small Indonesian islands on Monday when the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched earlier this year fell from orbit and, at least to some extent, survived its fiery re-entry over the island of Java.

 

At least two sizeable tanks were reported falling from the sky around 10 Western Indonesian Time in the Sumenep Regency on the eastern end of Madura Island located north-east of Java. The tanks landed on the small islands of Giliraja and Giligenting, causing damage to an animal enclosure but luckily leaving the animals and all locals in the area unharmed.

 

The timing and location of the debris sighting is consistent with the uncontrolled re-entry of the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched in August of this year.

 

The United States tracks objects in Earth orbit and close attention is paid to large objects when approaching the natural decay of their orbit. Ground-based observations yield orbital parameters for the objects from which re-entry predictions can be made a few hours before re-entry with an error bar of around an hour, however, observations with infrared-sensing satellites can detect the signature of a re-entering object and precisely determine the timing and location of the event.

 

According to the Joint Space Operations Center, the Falcon 9 rocket body re-entered at 2:26 UTC on Monday (+/-1 Minute) in a position over the Java Sea. The re-entry ground track took the rocket stage across the islands of Java and Madura, confirming a connection between the debris impact and the re-entry.

 

The actual position and timing of re-entry differ slightly from the data given by JSpOC with decay (80-Kilometer passage) occurring around three minutes earlier, further west than specified in the data. The coordinates given by JSpOC after entry are identical to data issued 80 minutes prior to the event and likely based on calculations rather than actual entry observations.

 

From...

 

Falcon 9 blasts off with JCSat-16 – Photo: SpaceX

 

more at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/spacex-rocket-parts-rain-down-over-indonesia/

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

[DocM]

Re: STARGATE

 

http://www.utrgvrider.com/stargate-promotes-entrepreneurship/

 

UTRGV physics doctoral student Louis Dartez gave a presentation on STARGATE and the company the program has created, SG Surveillance, as well building a space exploration “corridor” between Brownsville and Houston...

“This is exactly what the city of Brownsville needs to be able to stimulate and nurture the startup culture that we are all so excited about,” he said...

“The Houston Technology Center is going to have an office down here in Brownsville helping the startup culture and the Rio Grande Valley get [on] their feet, especially if your startup has anything to do with space exploration or technology that can be transportable to those fields,” he said.

STARGATE will be housed in a large laboratory and incubator building 75 feet from the command control center of SpaceX at Boca Chica Beach.

“In there, we will have Google offices, NASA offices, and an office for the Houston Technology Center,” he said.

Fredrick Jenet, director and creator of STARGATE, said SG Surveillance is going to promote the concept of entrepreneurship, specifically entrepreneurship in the new space sector.

“Our main purpose is to get people thinking about developing technologies for space,” Jenet said.

[DocM]

Re: internet satellite constellation

 

The Seattle satellite/Hall effect thruster factory hired a bunch in August, now up to 123+ and there are 60+ open positions listed. 7 open positions at Irvine (satcom electronics.)

 

@jeff_foust
Musk: we do have plans for a satellite constellation that could help to fund Mars; now is not the time to talk about it. #IAC2016

[Draggendrop Veteran]

U.S. Air Force puts STP-3 launch out for bid to SpaceX and ULA 

 

Orbital ATK's family of small satellite buses includes that A500 that 's being used for the STPSat-6 spacecraft. Credit: Orbital ATK

 

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force on Sept. 29 called for bids from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance for a mid-2019 launch of an experimental blast-detection satellite and a half-dozen smaller spacecraft that will tag along for the ride.

 

The Air Force, which is giving SpaceX and ULA until Dec. 2 to send in proposals for the firm-fixed price contract, didn’t say when it will announce the winner.

 

A draft solicitation was released Aug. 19 for industry feedback. The just-released final solicitation follows “extensive industry engagements,” the Air Force said.

 

“Through this solicitation for STP-3, we hope to promote healthy competition in order to foster  innovation while securing Assured Access to Space through multiple reliable, affordable and efficient launch service providers,” Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s commander said in a statement.

 

The Space Test Program-3 mission — STP-3 for short — comprises the STPSat-6 experimental satellite and a propulsive secondary payload adapter that will hold up to six payloads that Air Force says it will identify at least a year before the launch.

 

STPSat-6 itself is a multipurpose experimental spacecraft. Its main payloads are the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 and the NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload. The spacecraft is also equipped with seven smaller science and technology payloads selected by the Defense Department’s Space Test Program.

 

The STP-3 mission is the third launch contract the U.S. Air Force has put out for bid since certifying the SpaceX Falcon 9 to compete against ULA’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets for launch awards. SpaceX won the first contract, an $82.7 million award for a 2018 launch of a GPS 3 satellite, when ULA declined to participate, saying the competition was a price shootout that didn’t adequately account for Atlas 5’s superior reliability.

 

ULA did, however, submit a bid for a 2019 launch of another GPS 3 satellite. Bids for that mission were due Sept. 19.

http://spacenews.com/u-s-air-force-puts-stp-3-launch-out-for-bid-to-spacex-and-ula/

[DocM]

Heads up: Elon Musk Reddit AMA

 

Need to keep our ears open for when. SO MANY QUESTIONS.

 

@elonmusk

@bearsper Will do a Reddit AMA on Mars in the next week or two

[DUKE546]

Hi everyone!

I already posted this on /r/spacex but have been going around to sites interested in spacex activities. Hope everyone enjoys

 

SpaceX Time Machine

 

Major Highlights:

• SpaceX Only
• Information on Past/Present/Future Launches
• Dedicated Photos/Videos for each launch (Painfully hand collected myself)
• Dedicated information for each launch (Pulled from launch library.net)
• Mobile/Desktop friendly
• Email alerts for upcoming launches

 

If anyone find any issues or have any sort of suggestions, I'm all ears!

 

Future Plans:

• Still have to add Crew Dragon Abort Test and Falcon 1 launch info
• Wiki type user based photo/video upload

[+John. Subscriber¹]

13 hours ago, DUKE546 said:

Hi everyone!

I already posted this on /r/spacex but have been going around to sites interested in spacex activities. Hope everyone enjoys

 

SpaceX Time Machine

 

Major Highlights:

• SpaceX Only
• Information on Past/Present/Future Launches
• Dedicated Photos/Videos for each launch (Painfully hand collected myself)
• Dedicated information for each launch (Pulled from launch library.net)
• Mobile/Desktop friendly
• Email alerts for upcoming launches

 

If anyone find any issues or have any sort of suggestions, I'm all ears!

 

Future Plans:

• Still have to add Crew Dragon Abort Test and Falcon 1 launch info
• Wiki type user based photo/video upload

Great website thanks for that! Love the clear and concise layout well done

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX’s Shotwell on Falcon 9 inquiry, discounts for reused rockets and Silicon Valley’s test-and-fail ethos

 

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KUALA LUMPUR — SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell on Oct. 5 said the company remains optimistic it will return to flight this year after the Sept. 1 explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and its satellite payload in preparation for a static test fire.

 

Shotwell reiterated that the causes of a June 2015 Falcon 9 launch failure and the Sept. 1 incident appear to be unrelated and that the company is combing through data on operations as it searches for a root cause.

 

Addressing the APSCC 2016 conference, Shotwell also said Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX is offering a 10 percent discount to customers that agree to fly their payloads on reused Falcon 9 first stages.

 

She also said SpaceX’s proposed satellite Internet constellation in low Earth orbit remains in the design phase as the company seeks to tackle issues related to user-terminal cost.

The rest of the articles covers many Q and A's of interest...bit long but informative.

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-shotwell-on-falcon-9-inquiry-discounts-for-reused-rockets-and-silicon-valleys-test-and-fail-ethos/

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

Larger image

 

Everyday Astronaut has some great images with a touch of comedy in most.

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/everydayastronaut/

http://timdoddphotography.com/blog/everydayastronaut/

 

He is the one who made the smoke stack look like a Falcon 9.

[DocM]

Gwynne Shotwell today at the National Academy of Engineering

 

Quote

 

@jeff_foust

Shotwell: homing in on cause of Sept. 1 pad accident; not pointing to a vehicle issue. Hope to fly a couple more times this year.

 

 

[SALSN]

So the fuel loading system? What else is left?

[Unobscured Vision]

Has to be a loading issue from GSE. That's the only thing it could be at this point. Numerous frame-by-frame analysis have been done that pinpointed the IP being outside the Falcon-9.

[DocM]

11 hours ago, SALSN said:

So the fuel loading system? What else is left?

On NSF one leading theory is the chilled LOX and He loading rates and temps conspired to create an accidental thermoacoustic heat engine, which transfer energy as sound, with the COPV as the resonator. These may have produced extremely powerful acoustic waves in the plumbing.  Whammo.

[Unobscured Vision]

Another snowflake off their medication, folks. @Draggendrop, if you please?

 

Now then. Back to some actual discussion that doesn't involve the Moon being made of cheese. 

 

I think we're all familiar with LOX "singing" ... those are the acoustics @DocM is referring to. That can get pretty gnarly and set up all kinds of secondary effects that play havoc with gear. Resonances and such. Get a particularly bad vibration for a long enough period of time, and stuff breaks.

 

Here's an example of LOX "singing" ...

 

 

Interesting, isn't it? That acoustic "singing" becomes "vibration" as LOX moves through plumbing. It's a problem that NASA, Roscosmos, ESA and other Contractors have had to contend with throughout the entirety of Human Spaceflight Operations.

 

http://llis.nasa.gov/lesson/341 - Hydro-Dynamic Vibration in the "Hot Dog" Area on the Top of the Main Combustion Chamber of the SSME Caused Fractures 

https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:18069632 - Flow-induced vibration of the SSME LOX Posts 

http://www.dynamic-concepts.com/projects/sls_structural_lox.html - Space Launch System (SLS) LOX Damper (quite telling indeed ...)

 

So yep. Completely plausible that GSE suffered a failure while transporting LOX and He to the Falcon-9.  

 

[DocM]

The Centaur-G stage (aka Shuttle-Centaur) developed in the 1980's was to be used launch probes and satellites from the Shuttle bay, but in tests it didn't just sing -- it screamed.

 

This and other issues caused a future  shuttle commander to resign, and iconic astronaut John Young  called the first two proposed Shuttle-Centaur missions the "Death Star" missions. Ouch.

 

After Challenger such hardware finickiness became unacceptable and the Death Star was cancelled.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

14 minutes ago, DocM said:

The Centaur-G stage (aka Shuttle-Centaur) developed in the 1980's was to be used launch probes and satellites from the Shuttle bay, but in tests it didn't just sing -- it screamed.

 

This and other issues caused a future  shuttle commander to resign, and iconic astronaut John Young  called the first two proposed Shuttle-Centaur missions the "Death Star" missions. Ouch.

 

After Challenger such hardware finickiness became unacceptable and the Death Star was cancelled.

Pretty good article about the Shuttle-Centaur here.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/10/dispatches-from-the-death-star-the-rise-and-fall-of-nasas-shuttle-centaur/

and here...

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/nasa/nasa-glenn-dedicates-display-of-historic-shuttle-centaur-booster/

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX resorts to ‘Creative’ Testing in Falcon 9 Explosion Investigation

 

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SpaceX is continuing to narrow down the root cause of the Falcon 9 explosion on September 1st atop its Florida launch pad that had proven to be the most complex failure mechanism encountered in the company’s 14-year history.

 

Tracing down the source of the destructive event which claimed the loss of the Falcon 9 and the Israeli AMOS-6 Satellite had proven difficult due to the rapid timeline of the initial blast that caused Falcon 9 to burst into a ball of fire eight minutes ahead of a scheduled test firing of its engines.

 

However, company officials said in the past week, tremendous progress is being made zeroing in on the root cause that, per current knowledge at SpaceX, is related to operational aspects as opposed to a fundamental flaw in the rocket’s design – good news for a timely return to flight of the Falcon 9.

 

Camera view of the inside of the second stage’s LOX Tank with Helium COPVs – Photo: SpaceX

 

COPV Schematic – Image: NASA

 

Quote

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell spoke twice last week, at the APSSC Satellite Conference in Malaysia and the annual meeting of the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, reaffirming that the culprit lies within “business processes” and continuing to express hope that Falcon 9 can resume flying before the end of the year.

 

SpaceX confirmed on September 23 that the explosion was due to “a large breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank.” Being more specific, Shotwell said the prime candidate for the failure was a helium pressure ‘letting go’ – industry speak for rupturing.

 

The COPVs, Composite-Overwrapped Pressure Vessels, are responsible for storing high-pressure helium which is heated up in flight and supplied to the fuel and oxidizer tanks to keep them at the proper pressure levels to ensure the vehicle’s stability and propulsion system operation. Falcon’s COPVs measure around 60 centimeters in diameter, stand 1.5 meters tall and a pressurized to over 350 bar.

 

On Falcon 9, COPVs on the first and second stage are installed within the Liquid Oxygen tanks and immersed in the sub-cooled oxidizer.

 

Submerging the helium bottles in the supercold oxidizer has the sole purpose of densifying the gas and thus filling a greater mass of pressurant into the bottles, reducing the number/size of COPVs needed to hold the necessary helium. However, this creates a challenging thermal environment for the COPV material.

 

Falcon 9 is not the only rocket featuring COPVs submerged in liquid oxygen – others include Orbital ATK’s Antares and the Russian Soyuz 2-1B and 2-1v, though none use LOX chilled to the temperatures SpaceX requires to achieve the high performance of the Falcon 9 FT.

 

Per Shotwell’s comments, SpaceX currently explores different operational deficiencies that could cause a COPV to fail in a dramatic way. This implies SpaceX is closely looking at the interaction between the helium COPV, its contents, the LOX in the surrounding tank and pressures within the vessel – creating a complex system with many variables (in addition to the fact that practical experience with densified LOX in rocketry is sparse).

of note...

 

Quote

Potential causes of the COPV failure could include weakening of the structural integrity of the COPV due to the thermal difference between the metal liner on the inside subjected to the warm helium and the carbon fiber overwrap material on the outside in contact with the cold oxidizer. Acoustic phenomena resulting from the high-pressure helium being forced into the tank at a critical time during the LOX loading sequence are also on the table as possible scenarios that may have transpired.

and...

 

Quote

It is also understood that SpaceX was testing modifications to the countdown sequence on the Static Fire Test for the previous Falcon 9 mission with JCSat-16 to introduce window management capabilities for the FT version of Falcon 9 that initially had to launch very shortly after propellant loading finished in order to avoid the chilled propellants warming up inside the tanks. These modified countdown steps include adjustments to engine chilldown as well as the propellant and pressurant loading sequence.

 

It is possible that, with these seemingly minor adjustments to the sequencing of events, SpaceX has inadvertently designed a chain of events that overstressed the Helium bottles.

 

To gather data on the potential scenarios that can lead to a COPV failure, SpaceX has taken to its McGregor test site where, according to Shotwell, a lot of tests were being run on the COPVs. These tests, in all likelihood, are running different propellant and helium loading modes on highly instrumented tanks to learn about the critical chain of events in both loading sequences that overstress the COPVs.

 

Observant SpaceX fans passing by McGregor noted experimentation involving LOX tankers and helium supplies was underway in an open area of the facility.

more at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/spacex-resorts-to-creative-testing-in-falcon-9-explosion-investigation/

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Of course ... the full investigation and cause hasn't been released ... but this part concerns me ...

Quote

It is also understood that SpaceX was testing modifications to the countdown sequence on the Static Fire Test for the previous Falcon 9 mission with JCSat-16 to introduce window management capabilities for the FT version of Falcon 9 that initially had to launch very shortly after propellant loading finished in order to avoid the chilled propellants warming up inside the tanks. These modified countdown steps include adjustments to engine chilldown as well as the propellant and pressurant loading sequence.

 

It is possible that, with these seemingly minor adjustments to the sequencing of events, SpaceX has inadvertently designed a chain of events that overstressed the Helium bottles.

If that turns out to be the case ... SpaceX seriously needs to reconsider when and what "modifications" are "tested" when there is a payload onboard.  Fueling and firing should be standard procedure which has already been "tested" and done many times successfully ... modifications to said procedures should be done prior to strapping a $285M dollar payload on top.

 

If that was my money that went up in smoke ... because they were testing a modified procedure ... I'd be ######.  Just my opinion.   

 

Edit:  Speaking of the COPV tanks ... are those them at the top of this thread (the debris)?  Matches the description of ....1.5 meters tall and a diameter of 60 centimeters

 

 

[DocM]

For the record, SpaceX isn't the only one to test ops during wet dress rehearsals. It's the only time you have an assembled stack to do it.

 

Another write-up

 

http://spacenews.com/shotwell-says-spacex-homing-in-on-cause-of-falcon-9-pad-explosion/

 

AMOS-6

WASHINGTON — SpaceX is getting closer to finding the cause of a September pad explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9, and the company’s president remains confident the vehicle will return to flight later this year.

>
“We’re homing in on what happened,” she said. “I think it’s going to point not to a vehicle issue or an engineering design issue but more of a business process issue.”
>
 Speaking Oct. 5 at the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council 2016 conference in Malaysia, Shotwell said it was unlikely there was a design flaw in the bottles used to store helium in the tank, but rather an “operations” issue.

Because it is not a design issue, Shotwell remained confident that the Falcon 9 can resume launches later this year. “Hopefully we’ll recover from this and be back flying a couple times this year,” she said.

Reuse tests of JCSat-14

On reusability, Shotwell discussed a series of static-fire tests of the first stage recovered from the May launch of the JCSAT-14 satellite. “It was the hottest incoming that we had with one of these stages,” she said, referring to the high-velocity return and landing of the stage. “It was kind of a wreck.”

After doing “the minimum work” to make it operational, the company has been firing the stage on a test stand at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site. “We’ve fired that stage eight full mission durations, half of which have been at about 10 percent additional thrust,” she said.

Two more full-duration static-fire tests are planned for the stage to gain confidence for limited reuse of the first stage. “We’ll feel pretty good about reflying each stage once or twice” once those tests are complete, she said. An updated version of the Falcon 9, to be rolled out next year, should be able to reuse its first stage up to 10 times.

SpaceX comment constellation

Shotwell also briefly discussed a potential broadband satellite constellation the company has been studying. “Our constellation is about 4,000 satellites that we would deploy late in this decade or early in the next,” she said.

She explained that SpaceX is driven to develop the constellation in part because the company believes potential customers are dissatisfied with their current options for broadband Internet access. “Elon tends to find an industry where customers are very angry and frustrated,” she said. “Let’s build little communications satellites and provide global broadband capability for reasonable prices.”

A version of that system would also eventually be used at Mars, she added. “If you send a million people to Mars, you better provide some way for them to communicate,” she said. “I don’t think the people who go to Mars are going to be satisfied with some terrible, old-fashioned radios. They’ll want their iPhones or Androids on Mars.”

Revenue from a broadband constellation could also support the company’s Mars mission plans, she said, noting that telecommunications is a trillion-dollar industry worldwide. “For us to take just a tiny percentage of that provides huge revenue opportunity for us, which would really be a defining factor for Mars and beyond,” she said.

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX still expects to resume launches by the end of the year

 

An aerial reconnaissance plane surveyed damage from Hurricane Matthew along the U.S. East Coast, revealing exterior siding stripped from SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Credit: NOAA

 

Quote

Strong winds from Hurricane Matthew stripped exterior panels from SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral last week, but the damage is not likely to affect the company’s plans to launch Falcon 9 rockets again by the end of the year, officials said.

 

Hurricane Matthew blasted Cape Canaveral with wind gusts of more than 100 mph, but officials reported no significant structural damage, just widespread roof and siding damage and blown-out windows.

 

“Hurricane Matthew caused some damage to the exterior of SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,” said John Taylor, a company spokesperson. “The company has a ready and fully capable back-up for processing payloads at its SLC-40 hangar annex building.”

 

SpaceX is investigating a catastrophic rocket explosion on the Complex 40 launch pad Sept. 1 that destroyed a Falcon 9 booster and the Israeli-owned Amos 6 communications satellite.

 

The payload processing facility is a pristine clean room where satellites slated to launch on SpaceX rockets are fueled and enclosed inside their payload fairings. SpaceX set up the processing facility inside the Air Force’s former Solid Motor Assembly Building left vacant after the retirement of the Titan 4 rocket in 2005.

 

SpaceX said there was no damage at nearby launch pad 39A, which engineers are readying to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights once the investigation into last month’s explosion is complete. Complex 40 will require more time for repairs before it can be re-activated for launches.

 

SpaceX’s payload processing facility is about one-and-a-half miles southwest of Complex 40.

 

File photo of the Thaicom 8 satellite being prepared for launch inside SpaceX’s payload processing facility. Credit: SpaceX

 

Quote

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said Sunday that the company now intends to repair the hurricane damage at the payload processing facility.

 

“We’re going to have to try and get that up and running as quickly as we can so we can get back to flying,” Shotwell said in a speech at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, according to a report by Space News. “It’s a shame that, basically, the ability to process the payload in that building might keep us grounded for a little bit longer than we had hoped.”

 

Officials previously said they hoped to have the Falcon 9 flying again in November, but Shotwell did not give a timeframe Sunday.

 

“Hopefully we’ll recover from this and be back flying a couple times this year,” she said in a story posted on Space News’ website.

 

SpaceX has linked the Sept. 1 explosion with a large breach in the helium pressurization system inside the liquid oxygen tank on the Falcon 9’s second stage. Last week, Space News reported Shotwell said the cause was unlikely to be a design flaw in the high-pressure helium tanks used on SpaceX’s upper stage.

 

“We’re homing in on what happened,” Shotwell said Sunday. “I think it’s going to point not to a vehicle issue or an engineering design issue but more of a business process issue.”

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/11/spacex-still-expects-to-resume-launches-by-the-end-of-the-year/