SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has noted that the preliminary assessment of the second Falcon I flight shows that the second stage shut down only a minute before schedule \u2013 and still managed to deploy its satellite mass simulator ring.<\/p>\n
The shutdown appears to have been caused by the sloshing of propellant in the LOX tank, increasing observed oscillation, which would normally have been successfully dampened out by the second stage Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system. However, the impact on the second stage nozzle during separation caused a \u2018hard slew\u2019 correction, over-compensating previously simulated scenarios.<\/p>\n
The Falcon I launch vehicle lifted off from its Kwajalein Atoll launch pad in the Pacific Ocean last week, putting behind the failure \u2013 which occurred just seconds into first stage flight ascent \u2013 of its debut launch a year ago. <\/p>\n
Although the video of the launch webcast cut off just after 5 minutes of flight, SpaceX have now gained visuals from the entire flight, past the point of the premature second stage shutdown.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n