SpaceX: Falcon 9 will return to flight within two months

This is the second and last set of satellites the Orbcomm company needs to be set into space to complete its “next generation satellite constellation”.

“At the end of the day, if the launch provider tells you this is the way they would prefer to proceed, then we take that seriously”, Payer said.

In July Musk held a press conference to announce that its preliminary investigation found that a faulty metal strut had broken loose inside the rocket, causing a chain reaction leading to the explosion.

SpaceX has announced its plans to resume launching rockets in “six to eight weeks” starting with a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to carry a private Orbcomm satellite into space.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, expects to return a repaired and upgraded Falcon 9 rocket to flight around the start of December, a company vice president said, less than six months after one exploded shortly after liftoff.

It is expected the subsequent failure report into the loss of the CRS-7 mission will – as expected – point to a failed strut that released a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) otherwise known as a helium pressurization bottle, resulting in it leaking its helium, causing an overpressure event in the tank and the subsequent failure of the stage.

The Falcon v1.1, which will be used only once more, for a low-orbit mission for NASA, does not have sufficient power to perform a geostationary transfer orbit mission and a return of the rocket’s first stage, a maneuver that consumes substantial fuel on its own. Further neither Elon Musk or SpaceX have revealed about any internal questions or technical doubts about the Falcon 9’s second stage or its engine, which must operate perfectly to put larger satellites into high-earth orbits, suggesting that things must be well in place for the company to resume flights. It is now the only test stand that can be utilized for the upgraded Falcon 9 while the original stand prepares to be upgraded.

SpaceX issued the following statement explaining its decision.

“The Orbcomm-2 mission does not require a relight of the second stage engine following orbital insertion”.

“We are excited to launch our eleven OG2 satellites aboard SpaceX’s newly upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and have full confidence in SpaceX and their dedication to this launch”, said Marc Eisenberg, Orbcomm’s Chief Executive Officer. After that, another launch for customer SES is scheduled for late December, which would be SpaceX’s final scheduled launch from the Space Coast in 2015. All parties have mutually agreed that SpaceX will now fly the Orbcomm-2 mission on the return-to-flight Falcon 9 vehicle.