Why Would Elon Leave Starlink Sats Where They Could Rain Back Down On Earthlings?! Missions Go Awry, But This Seems Irresponsible.

Late last night, Musk wrote on X-itter that the Falcoln-9's upper stage engine suffered a "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly". In plainer English, the engine exploded, after a leak in the seals on the liquid oxygen assembly caused large "oxygen ice" chunks to form -- on the outside nozzle of the Merlin Vacuum upper stage engine. That likely was the cause of the explosion.

Sure -- space is hard. Missions go awry. And in general, Musk's SpaceX program has been the most reliable private hauling workhorse around. But who made the decision to throw 20 Starlink satellites into an unsafe, very low-Earth orbit? That's what I want to know. Here's the story -- do go read it all:

. . .After departing Vandenberg to begin SpaceX's Starlink 9-3 mission, the rocket's reusable first stage booster propelled the Starlink satellites into the upper atmosphere, then returned to Earth for an on-target landing on a recovery ship parked in the Pacific Ocean. A single Merlin Vacuum engine on the rocket's second stage fired for about six minutes to reach a preliminary orbit.

A few minutes after liftoff of SpaceX's Starlink 9-3 mission, veteran observers of SpaceX launches noticed an unusual build-up of ice around the top of the Merlin Vacuum engine, which consumes a propellant mixture of super-chilled kerosene and cryogenic liquid oxygen. The liquid oxygen is stored at a temperature of several hundred degrees below zero.

Numerous chunks of ice fell away from the rocket as the upper stage engine powered into orbit, but the Merlin Vacuum, or M-Vac, engine appeared to complete its first burn as planned. A leak in the oxidizer system or a problem with insulation could lead to ice accumulation, although the exact cause, and its possible link to the engine malfunction later in flight, will be the focus of SpaceX's investigation into the failure. . . .

Telemetry from the Falcon 9 rocket indicated it released the Starlink satellites into an orbit with a perigee just 86 miles (138 kilometers) above Earth, roughly 100 miles (150 kilometers) lower than expected, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and trusted tracker of spaceflight activity. . . .

[As the graphic at left indicates, this is the second recent stage two rocket failure Musk has seen on Falcon 9 -- we noted the earlier one, in March 2024, here.]

And, I would be willing to bet my last dollar that the decision to deploy the 20 satellites despite the failure to reach a correct orbit. . . was not made without Mr. Musk's final say-so. Onward. . . but that is emblematic of his decision-making in the last eight or so years. Baffling. Out.

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