A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster lost contact after landing on a droneship during a Starlink satellite launch on March 2. The incident marks the latest in a series of reliability concerns for the rocket, which has become a workhorse for SpaceX and the space industry.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:24 p.m. Eastern time, carrying 21 satellites to orbit. However, shortly after landing on its droneship, “Just Read the Instructions,” an off-nominal fire damaged one of the booster’s legs, causing it to tip over.
This is not the first incident involving the Falcon 9 rocket. In August 2024, another booster crashed while attempting to land on a droneship, briefly pausing launches. Additionally, there have been issues with deorbit burns after payload deployment, including one incident that halted Falcon 9 launches for two weeks.
SpaceX has attributed the latest incident to an off-nominal fire in the aft end of the rocket, which damaged its landing leg. The company plans to use the data from this incident to improve the reliability of future Falcon 9 missions.
This setback comes as SpaceX is working on other issues with its launch vehicles, including a potential manufacturing defect in nozzles used by the Falcon 9 upper stage. The company has confirmed that the issue was isolated to one nozzle and has implemented measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The loss of a Falcon 9 booster will likely impact upcoming launches, including NASA’s IM-2 lunar lander mission, which is currently scheduled for March 4. However, SpaceX and NASA have not yet confirmed whether the launch will proceed as planned.
Source: https://spacenews.com/falcon-9-booster-lost-after-droneship-landing