The ground explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Sept. 1 was likely caused by a “large breach” of the helium system, the company said Friday. SpaceX, NASA and the FAA, among others, continue to investigate the cause of the fiery incident at Cape Canaveral that destroyed the rocket and its payload as it stood at Launch Complex 40 during a pre-launch test. “At this stage of the investigation, preliminary review of the data and debris suggests that a large breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank took place. All plausible causes are being tracked in an extensive fault tree and carefully investigated,” SpaceX said in a statement.
The incident, which sent black smoke overhead and loud booms across the area, has no connection to the airborne explosion of a SpaceX rocket last summer, when a faulty part caused an upper-stage oxygen tank to overpressurize, the company said. Meanwhile, investigators have catalogued the recovered pieces from this month’s burnup and are inspecting them in a hangar. SpaceX said it hopes to pinpoint the cause of the fault soon enough to resume its rocket launches in November, and is already busy preparing the nearby Launch Complex 39A. The explosion occurred a day before SpaceX was to send an Israeli-made communications satellite into orbit for use by Facebook.
