SpaceX Falcon 9 engine glitch places Orbcomm OG2 in wrong orbit

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Oct. 14, 2012

Satellite Destroyed During SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Due to Engine Failure

Experimental communications satellite OG2 that was sent to space on SpaceX Falcon 9 had destroyed during launch, the satellite operator Orbcomm has confirmed.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Blows an Engine, October 7, 2012

New Jersey-based Orbcomm has said that a glitch during liftoff caused the experimental satellite to fall out of orbit and burn to ashes in the atmosphere. The satellite was launched aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 on October 7.

Debris from the rupture of a Falcon 9 engine panel during the Oct. 7

The prototype was planned to reach an altitude of 466 miles above the Earth, but it fell short after one of the Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin engines closed earlier than expected. Katherine Nelson, a spokesperson for SpaceX, said that the satellite operator new the risk from the beginning, as the satellite was not part of the core mission.

 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Speaking on the topic, Nelson added, “Orbcomm understood from the beginning that the orbit-raising maneuver was tentative. They accepted that there was a high risk of their satellite remaining at the Dragon insertion orbit.”

Under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, SpaceX will send a total of 12 flights to the International Space Station (ISS).

Experimental communications satellite OG2 in the test chamber

Orbcomm has claimed an insurance policy worth around $10 million to cover the loss of the OG2.

The satellite operator has plans to launch eight satellites next year and nine satellites in 2014 using Falcon 9 rockets to create a seventeen-member communications satellite network.

For more information about SpaceX, visit: http://www.spacex.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX / Sierra Nevada Corporation / AFP / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

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