The Israeli company SpaceCom, the owner of the satellite that was to be ferried into space by the SpaceX Falcon9 rocket until it exploded on the launch pad last week, will receive $205 million in compensation from Israel Aerospace Industries, the builder of the AMOS6 satellite that was lost in the blast according to a filing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
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Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion, which was caught on camera, is still unknown.
The plan to provide internet access to sub-Saharan Africa is part of Mr Zuckerberg’s Internet.org initiative, which was launched in 2013.
Facebook had partnered French satellite firm Eutelsat to lease the broadband capability of the satellite for five years at a reported cost of £72m a year.
“We will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided”. As recently as last month, we were writing about how SpaceX seemed to have taken the lead over rival Boeing (NYSE:BA) in the race to send astronauts to the International Space Station via NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract.
But the explosion destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that the Falcon 9 was due to deliver into orbit on Saturday – drawing a dismayed reaction from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.
Now some people are claiming the space rocket was attacked.
Before that, SpaceX had logged 18 successful launches of the Falcon 9 – including six of 12 planned supply missions to the ISS carried out as part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
SpaceX of California had been ramping up the launch pace to make up for a backlog created by a launch accident in June 2015.
“It’s clearly a setback, but how great the setback is and how long the delay, it’s impossible to know until there is more information available”, said Logsdon.
“The situation at the Cape is being evaluated, and it’s too early to know whether the incident will affect the schedule for upcoming NASA-related SpaceX launches to the International Space Station (ISS)”, the USA space agency noted.
More important for SpaceX is what Thursday’s explosion means for the track record of success it has built up over the past year – and what it means for the company’s prospects going forward.
The next cargo mission for SpaceX is set for November.
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SpaceX is one of two companies which ships supplies to the International Space Station for Nasa.
