SpaceX news: Jan. 8 launch announced after identifying cause of Falcon 9 explosion

After identifying the cause of the explosion of one of its rockets last September, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, more commonly known as SpaceX, announced that it is getting ready to launch once again within the next few days.

"SpaceX is targeting return to flight from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) with the Iridium NEXT launch on January 8. SpaceX greatly appreciates the support of our customers and partners throughout this process, and we look forward to fulfilling our manifest and beyond," the aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company said in a statement.

The upcoming launch follows the explosion of the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket on Sept. 1, 2016, during a routine preflight readiness test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Its payload, a Spacecom AMOS-6 communications satellite worth $200 million which Facebook intended to use to deliver high-speed internet to sub-Saharan Africa, was also destroyed.

According to the statement, SpaceX, in collaboration with officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB), had conducted a rigorous four-month investigation on the cause of the explosion. The probe revealed that one of the three composite overwrapped pressure vessels (CPOVs) within the second stage liquid oxygen tank had failed. This led to the accumulation of oxygen which then led to ignition and failure of the COPV.

In light of the results of the investigation, SpaceX said that it will load helium more slowly and that the its temperature will be higher compared to what it was during the recent accident. In the long term, SpaceX revealed that they will implement design changes to the COPVs to prevent buckles and other issues from occurring. This will also allow for faster loading operations.

It can be recalled that the recent Falcon 9 incident is the second explosion for SpaceX. In 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket also failed after lift-off and resulted in the destruction of a Dragon cargo capsule intended for the International Space Station.

Despite these instances, SpaceX's statement reveals that the company intends to stick to its plans of fueling manned rockets with supercooled oxygen and helium.