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Falcon 1 Maiden Flight Update: Posted November 26, 2005 at 5:11 p.m.
PST
The SpaceX launch scrubbed today. We anticipate a new launch attempt
in mid-December, depending on the timing of LOX resupply from Hawaii
(our LOX plant on Omelek can only produce about one ton per day). As
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated during a pre-launch press conference, the
likelihood of an all new rocket launching from an all new launch pad
on its first attempt is low.
The reason for the delay was an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill
tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent. The time it
took to correct the problem resulted in significant LOX boiloff and
loss of helium, and it was the latter that caused the launch abort.
LOX is used to chill the helium bottles, so we lose helium if there
is no LOX to cool the bottles.
Although we were eventually able to refill the vehicle LOX tanks, the
rate at which we could add helium was slower than the rate at which
LOX was boiling away. There was no way to close the gap, so the
launch had to be called off. In addition, we experienced an anomaly
with the main engine computer that requires further investigation and
was arguably reason in and of itself to postpone launch.