Ofthe orbit of a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage at the end of last month produced a spectacular light show over the Northwest Pacific, but the incident led to much of the rocket crashing into a farmer’s field.
The second stage was to burn over Pacific Owhat year, away from populated areas, but a failed orbital burn led to an uncontrolled re-entry on March 26, 2021.
Dramatic videos taken from the ground showed pieces of shiny debris seeping into the sky around 9 p.m., local time, as the top component of the rocket burned and disintegrated on the west coast of the United States.
The failed orbit occurred about three weeks after the rocket was launched, in which a Falcon 9 successfully dropped 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. The first stage managed to land on a drone ship shortly after its launch from the Kennedy Space Center on March 4.
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SpaceX was strangely silent about everything. Tthe Tri-City Herald now rEPORTS that a charred piece from the second stage collapsed in the field of a farmer in Washington State. The remainder appears to be a composite vessel under pressure, or COPV, which is designed to carry fluids, such as super-cold helium, under pressure.
Kyle Foreman from the sheriff’s office in Grant County said the Tri-City Herald that the tank left a 4-inch sink in the ground. SpaceX, after being contacted by the sheriff’s deputies, arrived at the scene to collect their garbage.
“SpaceX has recovered a composite pressure vessel since last week’s re-entry of Falcon 9,” posted on Twitter Sheriff of Grant County. “He was found in private property in southwestern Grant County this week. The media and treasure hunters: we do not reveal details. ”
To which the sheriff’s office added: “The property owner simply wants to be left alone.”
As for what did not work well during the orbit, “there was not enough propellant after this launch to start the Merlin engine and complete the combustion”, so “the propeller was vented into space”, resulting in “uncontrolled re-entry into atmosphere , “ Eric Berger reported in Ars Technica.
A similar event took place in 2014, when an apparent COPV from a Falcon 9 has landed in Brazil. It is fortunate that no one has ever been injured in these incidents, which fortunately are rar. To date, SpaceX has completed 111 launches of the Falcon 9, including 71 first-stage landings and 54 missions involving flowered missiles.