SpaceX has an explanation for the Falcon 9 bits that hit Poland
- Reference: 1740401406
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/24/spacex_falcon_9_debris/
- Source link:
The second stage that came down was from a mission launched on February 1 to deploy another 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. While the landing of the first stage was a success, the deorbit burn of the second stage did not occur. On February 19, the stage made an uncontrolled entry over Poland, lighting up the sky and depositing debris in the country.
[1]There were no injuries or substantial property damage , but this was more down to luck than good judgment.
[2]
The incident marks the third time in since July last year that a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper-stage did not perform as planned, although only one of these situations resulted in a loss of mission. In that first case, [3]on July 7th 2024 , 20 Starlink satellites were left stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit after a liquid oxygen leak prevented the upper stage from performing a circularization burn. In [4]September last year, an issue with the second stage deorbit burn resulted in a deorbit burn that sent debris to the wrong part of the ocean.
[5]
[6]
According to an [7]update on SpaceX's page for the February 1 mission, another liquid oxygen leak was to blame for this malfunction as well, although it occured after the Starlink satellites had been deployed. The second stage's engine would usually be relit to send it into an ocean area. However, during the coast phase, an oxygen leak developed "which ultimately drove higher than expected vehicle body rates."
Rather than risk lighting the engine, SpaceX engineers opted to "passivate" the vehicle – usually venting all propellant and discharging the batteries so there is nothing onboard to cause the stage to break up while in orbit – and allow it to reenter uncontrolled unexpectedly.
[8]Elon Musk calls for International Space Station to be deorbited by 2027
[9]As Amazon takes over the Bond franchise, we submit our scripts for the next flick
[10]Grok 3 wades into the AI wars with 'beta' rollout
[11]NASA's radiation tolerant computer lives up to its name after surviving Van Allen belts
The company said there were no toxic materials in the debris that fell over Poland last week, but advised anyone coming across bits of the second stage to leave it alone and contact authorities. It said it "is working closely with the government of Poland on recovery and cleanup efforts."
While three incidents in just over seven months might seem a lot, it is also worth considering the rate at which SpaceX is launching Falcon 9 rockets. There have been 10 launches so far in February alone.
[12]
However, although the first stage of the rocket is designed to be reused, SpaceX must manufacture a new second stage for every launch.
SpaceX said, "The teams are actively assessing root cause of the source of the leak and have already implemented mitigations for future flights." It did not go into detail about what those mitigations might be.
As the pace of launches increases for SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9, the upper stage issues are a sign of strain beginning to show in the company's operations. ®
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[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62z3vxjplpo
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z7ylsUx1tDYrMVKhYc4NwgAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/12/spacex_suffers_an_inflight_falcon/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/spacex_falcon_9_grounded/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7ylsUx1tDYrMVKhYc4NwgAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-11-4
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/21/elon_musk_iss_mogensen_insult/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/21/amazon_bond_franchise_sold/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/18/grok_3/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/11/nasa_radpc_firefly_moon_mission/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7ylsUx1tDYrMVKhYc4NwgAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Werner von Musk
I just send them up, where they come down is not my department says Werner von Musk
Re: Werner von Musk
Thank you, Tom Lehrer.
We've been here before
Someone else with a penchant for a Roman salute lobbed projectiles into Poland in the C20th.
Lebensraum
President Musk is looking for Lebensraum, obviously.
Tomorrow
We convert the Sudetenland into another golf course and hotel complex.
"While three incidents in just over seven months might seem a lot"
It's even more than Boeing. But nice of them to offer an explanation. Somehow an explanation would make things better if one had actually fallen on a house.
I blame the Muscoid's "genius" for the problems.
Maybe clown boy should face up to the fact that he's just a lucky barstage, not smarter than everyone else, and in fact often far more stupid than everyone else...
He might demonstrate an extreme case of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The company said there were no toxic materials in the debris that fell over Poland last week, but advised anyone coming across bits of the second stage to leave it alone and contact authorities. It said it "is working closely with the government of Poland on recovery and cleanup efforts."
If there are no toxic materials in the debris then why does there need to be a cleanup effort? Let's look at the definition of "cleanup".
Cleanup; noun.
The act or process of removing a dirty or dangerous substance, esp. when it has been left in the environment as a result of an accident:
> If there are no toxic materials in the debris then why does there need to be a cleanup effort?
Random people fiddling with a non-toxic mangled bit of debris can still get injuries from sharp edges - including Tetanus. The debris may not be toxic in and of itself but it can dig up stuff you want to stay clear of: simply squishing the local fauna can mean it is covered in juices that'll ruin your day (giant hogweed isn't just a Genesis track). Or bits break off and stab at you (the photos of the debris don't make it look structurally sound).
Basically, these guys are fly tipping and you still go in and say you are doing a "clean up" if the only thing in the wayside is obviously an old chest of drawers, with nails in unexpected places.
Heck, if they don't go in wearing full bunny suits and one of them comes home with a nasty rash from stinging nettles there are people who'd scream it was nasty spacey stuff.
OTOH If they do go in looking like bleached Minions then da 'Webs are claiming that means a cover up...
Why clean up
1) Because SpaceX cleaning up their own litter is the right thing to do.
(when you have stopped laughing)
2) The bits I have seen reach the ground are smashed composite over-wrapped pressure vessels. The [1]handling precautions for carbon fiber suggest that staying away and leaving the clean up to someone who knows what they are doing is a good idea.
3) The back end of the engine is made of hafnium and might reach the ground. Hafnium is expensive.
4) Many bits of rockets are proprietary or covered by [2]ITAR . It is possible SpaceX could lose competitive advantage if an important piece came down intact. It used to be remotely possible for SpaceX to get into trouble for ITAR violations.
The only toxic material I can think of is the [3]TEA / [4]TEB starter fluid for Merlin engines. These both score 3/4:"extreme danger" on the health hazard corner of their [5]NFPA 704 diamonds. The good news is these should have been vented in space during passivation. If that failed they both score 4/4:"Below 25°C" for fire hazard and 3or4/4: (Heat+shock) may detonate for reactivity. These chemicals will not survive re-entry.
[1] https://element6composites.com/3-safety-tips-for-working-with-carbon-fiber/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylaluminium
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFPA_704
Keep your opinions out of my news.
> ...upper stage issues are a sign of strain beginning to show in the company's operations.
[CITATION NEEDED]
Don't make assertions about a topic you know little about, please. Stick to the tech news—leave aerospace alone.
Re: Keep your opinions out of my news.
Odd!
Making sweeping assertions about topics of which the writers have little or no actual knowledge appears to be the predominant activity (in the comments at least) on most news websites, El Reg being no exception.
Re: Keep your opinions out of my news.
Seems a perfectly reasonable assertion. 3 failures of the same thing in a year suggests something is off with quality control, at the very least.
Re: Keep your opinions out of my news.
Three issues in the past seven months is perfectly normal, right? And the FAA confirming that debris raining down across Europe is within scope of SpaceX's licenced activities is also perfectly normal.
It looks like SpaceX's Texas move is proving distracting for them.
Re: perfectly normal
There are some odd historical artifacts to how launch licenses are written. Requiring a de-orbit burn is fairly modern and the regulations were written to avoid banning rockets that cannot de-orbit. Also second stage de-orbit is not possible for large satellites launched direct to geostationary - a fairly common situation for DoD satellites.
The result is that if SpaceX attempt to de-orbit and miss the target (probably [1]Point Nemo ) then a mishap investigation is required. If SpaceX cancel the de-orbit burn then there is no requirement for a mishap investigation.
These odd rules certainly pre-date 2025 and I think they pre-date 2016 too. The rules could certainly be better. It looks like the plan is not to bother changing the rules but instead to ensure there is no chance of them being enforced in future.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility#Oceanic_pole_of_inaccessibility
Re: Keep your opinions out of my news.
"Stick to the tech news—leave aerospace alone."
So - aerospace isn't tech? Huh?
Re: Keep your opinions out of my news.
[CITATION NEEDED]
He says, anonymously, apparently with zero sense of irony, since simps don't understand irony.
Just watching the world burn
I have no power. Just watching it burn, burn, burn.
A note out of the von Braun playbook
We aim for Mars, but sometimes we hit Poland
In due course a SpaceX rocket is going to hit a major population centre in the US, causing huge loss of life. It will then turn out that Musk fired FAA employees who raised concerns about the fault which caused the problem. Which will be good for popcorn shares.
No reason to expect a spike in popcorn shares
In future [1]NTSB accident reports and investigations will be published on X. SpaceX could wipe out a US town, if there is anything left of the NTSB they could report the accident on X. X might decide that only a few select individuals see the report.
[1] https://thedesk.net/2025/02/ntsb-moves-plane-crash-press-updates-x-twitter/
Leave it alone and contact authorities
If any part of it seems to be damp and sort of blobby, walk, don't run, to the nearest diner.
If the Blobby is pink with white spots, give up, you are doomed.
Blame Issac Newton
> SpaceX has published an explanation for the debris from the Falcon 9 second stage that fell over Poland last week
Gravity?
Nice Country You Have There, Poland...
Of course it does no harm to Elmo's plans for world domination to demonstrate the ability to deliver debris to distant parts of the globe, even without his munchkins occupying the US department of defence.
"So f^ck your tunnels, f@ck your cars, f~ck your rockets, f-ck your cars again,
You promised you'd be Tesla, but you're just another Edison"