On July 11, when a Falcon 9 was launching 20 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit, the failure took place. The rocket’s first stage ran smoothly that day, but an oxygen leak in its upper stage stopped it from performing the intended orbit-raising burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were launched too low and quickly returned to Earth, where they burned up in the planet’s dense atmosphere.

The enigma surrounding the leak’s origin is now solved. In an update on Thursday afternoon (July 25), SpaceX stated that it was caused by “a crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor attached to the vehicle’s oxygen system.” “This line cracked due to fatigue caused by high loading from engine vibration and looseness in the clamp that normally constrains the line.”

On July 11, the upper stage’s lone Merlin engine executed its first burn according to plan, precisely as it entered a coast phase in an elliptical orbit. However, according to SpaceX’s anomaly study, which was supervised by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the leak stopped the engine from performing a second burn, which was intended to circularize its orbit prior to Starlink satellite placement.

In an update published on Thursday, the business stated that the leak “led to the excessive cooling of engine components, most importantly those associated with the delivery of ignition fluid to the engine.” “As a result, the engine experienced a hard start rather than a controlled burn, which damaged the engine hardware and caused the upper stage to subsequently lose attitude control.”

All 20 satellites were successfully launched by the upper stage, but as was already said, their orbital lifetime was short.

The update stated that “the failed sense line and sensor on the second-stage engine will be removed for near-term Falcon launches,” according to company reps.

“The sensor is not used by the flight safety system and can be covered by alternate sensors already present on the engine,” they stated.”The design change has been tested at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas, with enhanced qualification analysis and oversight by the FAA and involvement from the SpaceX investigation team. An additional qualification review, inspection, and scrub of all sense lines and clamps on the active booster fleet led to a proactive replacement in select locations.”

The FAA has received SpaceX’s accident report. Thursday afternoon, the firm announced on X that it is “poised to rapidly return to flight as soon as Saturday, July 27.”

Since a Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated in June 2015 while delivering a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station, SpaceX has not experienced an in-flight malfunction until the anomaly of July 11. The Dragon was lost as a result of the mishap.

Nevertheless, in September 2016, during preflight testing, a Falcon 9 exploded on the pad. The AMOS-6 communications satellite, which was part of the rocket’s payload, was also lost due to that incident.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA had a magnificent 25th anniversary celebration. On Tuesday, the space agency unveiled 25 never-before-seen photos taken with the space telescope. The images include the planet Jupiter as well as galaxies and nebulae throughout the cosmos. It’s difficult to choose a favorite, but a new perspective on the M16 Eagle Nebula is noteworthy. The picture includes the magnificent Pillars of Creation, a well-known celestial structure that has fascinated people on Earth for many years.

The Pillars of Creation, a star-forming zone with towering fingers of gas and dust, gained notoriety in the 1990s thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope participated with its own version.

Chandra’s X-ray vision gives it a unique ability to reveal aspects of the universe. As per NASA, “X-rays are an especially penetrating type of light that reveals extremely hot objects and very energetic physical processes.” “Many fascinating regions in space glow strongly in X-rays, such as the debris from exploded stars and material swirling around black holes.” Data from other observatories that “see” in different ways is frequently integrated with data from Chandra. Data from Chandra combined with an infrared picture from Webb is used to create the Pillars of Creation image.

In the updated picture, Chandra amplifies the stellar power. Search for young stars that resemble confetti. These represent the pinnacle of Chandra’s input. The Chandra team used beautiful words to describe the image: “The misty glow, colorful stars, and lifelike gray dust formations combine to create an image of yearning cloud creatures at dusk, reaching for something just out of frame.”

The latest Chandra photos are all quite beautiful. Known for being the remnant of a supernova explosion, the Crab Nebula is another prominent structure. It looked like a neon purple mushroom with a web of veins and filaments surrounding it, according to the Chandra team.

Another area where stars originate is called Cat’s Paw Nebula, which was also photographed by Chandra. A group of young stars with white spots at their centers and a vivid purple appearance were observed by the observatory.

The combined Chandra and Hubble infrared image of Jupiter appears like a striped marble hovering in space. The neon-purple bands at the planet’s top and bottom were identified by the Chandra team. The scientists explained, “Capping the planet’s magnetic poles, these purple strips represent X-ray auroras, created when high-energy particles collide with gas in the planet’s atmosphere.”

On July 23, 1999, Chandra was launched with assistance from the space shuttle Columbia. Since then, the telescope has recorded about 25,000 observations. According to Pat Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center, “Astronomers have used Chandra to investigate mysteries that we didn’t even know about when we were building the telescope—including exoplanets and dark energy,” A NASA count indicates that more than 10,000 peer-reviewed articles have been authored by scientists using Chandra data.

The stunning new photos have a bittersweet quality. NASA revealed intentions to reduce the observatory’s funding, perhaps leading to the closure of its operations. That implies that there may not be any more anniversary parties. Even though Chandra may not be as well-known as the Hubble Space Telescope or the Webb telescope, the observatory has made significant contributions to the study of exoplanets, black holes, and distant galaxies. “Help understand the structure and evolution of the universe.” is its stated objective. It would be hard for the astronomers who utilize Chandra’s data to say goodbye.

The two astronauts who were sent as part of Boeing’s Crew Flight Test were Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore.

For more than a month now, Boeing’s Starliner has been trapped in orbit. The spacecraft was originally scheduled for a 10-day mission when it launched on June 5. But when it docked at the International Space Station the following day, it ran into unanticipated problems with its thrusters. The astronauts are conducting research while in orbit as they continue to work on a solution.

NASA releases research on space plants by Sunita Williams

As part of Boeing’s Crew Flight Test, two astronauts were deployed: Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore. According to a NASA statement, the two, with plenty of free time on their hands, conducted research on space plants and free-flying robots on Wednesday. According to the US space agency, Wilmore and Williams are “exploring ways to effectively water plants in the weightless environment.”

The announcement also stated that “The duo took turns throughout the day in the Harmony module, testing how root models and plants of various sizes would absorb water in microgravity . The Plant Water Management study looks at techniques such as hydroponics and air circulation to nourish plants growing aboard spacecraft and space habitats.”

NASA noted in an earlier statement that the two astronauts’ primary focus was testing various techniques for watering plants grown in the weightless microgravity environment without soil. According to the statement, “Williams first set up the Plant Water Management hardware in the Harmony module then tested a variety of liquid flow methods while video recording the results,”

It continues, “Following her work, Wilmore ran more tests using hydroponics and air circulation techniques to learn how to effectively nourish a variety of plants on spacecraft and space habitats.” In the meantime, the agency stated that the two “started their day servicing a variety of research hardware” in the release on Thursday.