SpaceX built and delivered its 200th second Falcon stage, highlighting the often underestimated rocket milestone record on the ground and in flight.
Almost 13 years ago, in late 2009 or early 2010, SpaceX delivered the first flight-fit prototype of the first iteration of the second stage of the Falcon 9. In June 2010, the Falcon 9 took off for its first flight of test and with the help of that second stage, successfully launched the prototype Space Dragon plane into orbit. Since the sudden inaugural success of the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy 187 rockets have fired again for a total of 188 launches and 189 assembled rockets. Each of these launches required a new second stage, and all but one (Cancel In Dragon Test Flight) required a new Merlin Vacuum motor.
Although SpaceX is best known for quickly successfully making a reusable Falcon booster, the company’s overall success is also closely tied to the Falcon II phase, which will always be spent after each launch. For every spectacular Falcon landing or re-use footage, the Falcon’s second stage will simply burn in Earth’s atmosphere or get stuck in orbit. As a result, even though SpaceX’s reuse allowed it to launch more than ever with a fleet of just 10-20 Falcon boosters, the company had to expand production of its Falcon II stage to incredible levels.
SpaceX has just completed the launch of its 188th Falcon 9 / Heavy, so it is likely that a second flight-capable launch stage and the Merlin Vacuum Engine (MVac) will be launched in January 2023. Over the past 365 days, the Falcon rocket SpaceX has completed 59 successful orbital launches. Each launch requires a new second phase, so SpaceX built, delivered and tested on average a new second phase of Falcon every 6.2 days to still one year.
Thanks to SpaceX’s record-breaking launch cadence in 2022, which resulted in more Falcon 9 launches in a calendar year than any other rocket in history, the Falcon II stage will likely be the most prolific orbital rocket stage in decades. Barring surprises, SpaceX is on track to meet CEO Elon Musk’s goal of launching 60 Falcons by 2022. But SpaceX isn’t done yet and CEO Elon Musk says the company is aiming for “up to 100 launches” by 2022. 2023. After roughly doubling between early and late 2021, this will require Falcon Phase 2 production to increase by another 67% year-over-year.
In its 12.5-year career, the Falcon 9 has failed three times. In October 2012, after its third launch, one of the Merlin 1C engines with the Falcon 9 engine failed to fly. The main mission – the Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station – was saved in the second phase, which independently compensated for the lost performance, but as a result the secondary payload (Orbcomm’s first OG2 satellite prototype) was lost. . In June 2015, a damaged mast inside the Falcon 9’s second stage caused the helium pressure vessel to rupture and rupture, destroying the missile mid-flight. And in September 2016, during a test fire, a similar pressure vessel inside the second stage of the Falcon 9 spontaneously exploded, causing an explosion that destroyed the missile while it was still on the ground.
Consequently, while problems with the Falcon’s second stage technically led to the one catastrophic failure of every Falcon 9, it remains true that the second stage of free flight never failed in flight. The same goes for the Merlin Vacuum’s second-stage motor: after hundreds of burns and over 70,000 seconds of operation, the MVac never stops flying.
Following the successful launch of Falcon 9 on November 3, 2022, the Eutelsat Hotbird 13G communications satellite, SpaceX’s Falcon family of rockets, has completed 160 surefire launches, making it the most reliable rocket family in history. To accomplish this feat with the partially reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, SpaceX must master reuse. And Orbital rockets can be deployed to a level that only a few other space companies or agencies in history can claim to match or surpass, and none have reached them at the same time.
