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SpaceX hopes to resume Falcon 9 flights soon, even as the Federal Aviation Administration investigates the cause of last week’s rocket malfunction, which caused 20 Starlink satellites to fall back to Earth.
The company sent a formal request to the FAA to inquire about when it can restart the launches, according to Spaceflight Now, which was first to report the news.
Specifically, SpaceX is asking the agency to “make a public safety determination as part of the ongoing investigation of the Starlink Group 9-3 anomaly,” the FAA tells PCMag.
Filing the public safety determination means the launch provider believes the malfunction “did not involve safety-critical systems or otherwise jeopardize public safety,” according to an FAA document. If granted, the determination would allow SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 flights even while the FAA’s investigation into the incident proceeds.
“The FAA is reviewing the request and will be guided by data and safety at every step of the process,” the agency adds. This will involve evaluating various factors, including SpaceX's existing flight safety systems and the nature of last week's malfunction.
The other way the FAA could green-light the launches involves SpaceX completing a "mishap investigation final report" and identifying the corrective actions. The FAA would need to review and accept the report before SpaceX implements the changes.
In the meantime, the FAA has grounded all Falcon 9 flights, pending the investigation into the malfunction. The potential delay risks pushing back numerous rocket launches, including for SpaceX’s Starlink system, which is preparing to expand to mobile phones later this fall.
The incident began last Thursday when a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink satellites launched from California. Although the rocket successfully took off, the vehicle’s second stage failed to complete a full burn due to a liquid oxygen leak. This caused the rocket to deploy the 20 Starlink satellites into a lower-than-intended orbit and eventually fall back to Earth, burning up in the planet’s atmosphere.
The cause of the liquid oxygen leak remains unclear. But the malfunction represents a rarity for the Falcon 9 rockets, which have completed 364 successful launches, according to SpaceX. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about its effort to restart the Falcon 9 launches.