SpaceX to start flying rockets next week

Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to start flying rockets next week following an investigation into why one of them burst into flames on a launch pad four months ago, the company said yesterday.

Space X said in a statement that it expected to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on 8 January, which would put 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications Inc.

The company had suspended flights after a Falcon 9 rocket model burst into flames and exploded on 1 September, while being fueled for a routine pre-launch test in Florida. In the explosion at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the $62 million rocket and a $200 million communications satellite were destroyed.

Space X, owned and operated by Tesla Motors Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk, had a backlog of over 70 missions for NASA and commercial customers, worth over $10 billion.

According to the company's statement, accident investigators had concluded that a canister of helium inside the rocket's upper-stage oxygen tank had exploded.

Over the short term, SpaceX plans to revamp its fueling procedures so that the super-cold liquid oxygen would not build up between the helium tank's liner and its outer covering, it added.

According to commentators, the series of explosions on 1 September that destroyed a Falcon was especially puzzling and concerning, as it occurred during what was usually regarded as a safer portion of operations - the fueling of propellants - about eight minutes before the ignition of the engines for a planned test.

Current federal laws require such investigations to be led by the company that built the rocket, not a government agency. The panel conducting the investigation had representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration, the United States Air Force, NASA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Falcon 9 rockets are used to carry NASA cargo to the International Space Station and are to provide transportation for astronauts beginning in 2018.