Falcon Heavy booster is lost at sea after falling off drone ship due to large waves.
The on-target landings marked the first time SpaceX landed all three Falcon Heavy boosters on the same mission. The core stage crashed at sea near the drone ship after running out of igniter fluid on the Falcon Heavy’s inaugural flight in February 2018.
There were eight to ten-foot swells rocking the drone ship, and before recovery crews could secure the booster it toppled over.
“Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the centre core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral,” SpaceX said in a statement on Monday.
SpaceX uses an Octagrabber robotic system SpaceX typically employs to secure the booster to the drone ship was not able to be used on the Falcon Heavy mission because the core booster uses a different mechanical interface. The company is planning to adapt the system in time for the Heavy’s next launch in the summer.
The drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You, was parked around 615 miles (990 kilometres) east of Cape Canaveral for Thursday’s mission, farther downrange than the vessel’s typical position for a SpaceX launch, due to the high-speed staging on the Falcon Heavy.
SpaceX has two operational drone ships and has a third under construction as of early 2018. Just Read the Instructions operates in the Pacific for launches from Vandenberg; Of Course I Still Love You operates in the Atlantic for launches from Cape Canaveral. A Shortfall of Gravitas is under construction. As of 11 April 2019, 29 Falcon 9 flights have attempted to land on a drone ship, with 23 of them succeeding.
Aside from the loss, the mission itself was deemed a success. It also marked the first time for SpaceX to land three boosters at once, with two returning safely to dry land and the now-lost booster performing a perfect touchdown on the drone ship.
Last week’s mission was the Falcon Heavy’s first commercial launch, deploying into orbit the Lockheed Martin-built Arabsat-6A communications satellite for the provision of TV, internet, and phone services in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
