SpaceX says it will resume rocket launches in mid-December, now that the company knows what triggered a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion. Meanwhile, NASA advisors continue to raise concerns that fueling practices were a factor in the accident. As described by the New York Times on Friday, CEO Elon Musk said the cold liquid oxygen used to propel the rocket reached temperatures that made it solidify, then it reacted with helium-filled tanks, which burst and set off the series of explosions.In a CNBC interview, he called it a “really surprising problem that’s never been encountered before in the history of rocketry.” The dramatic burnup, showing a series of loud booms and fireballs erupting from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, destroyed the rocket and its cargo, a $200 million Israeli satellite. The investigation of the accident isn’t yet done, but the main cause has been found, Musk said. “So this was the toughest puzzle solved that we’ve ever had to solve. It looks like we’re going to be back to launching around mid-December,” Musk told CNBC.
Ongoing safety concerns about SpaceX’s practice of cooling fuel and then loading it just before launch – and someday doing this with astronauts on board – continue to be voiced by a NASA committee advising on International Space Station missions. The committee raised the issues in 2015 and again in October during the investigation into the explosion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. SpaceX uses supercooled fuel that must be loaded just before launch, with a crew already strapped into the spacecraft. Traditionally, the practice of fueling rockets with people on board has been considered too dangerous, although NASA and SpaceX said in the Journal report there have always been ongoing evaluations of the risks and they’ll continue to update the committee as the investigation continues.
