He also noted that “the pressure rise that occurs behind an explosive detonation wave is almost instantaneous and can be very large and cause much more structural damage than a deflagration event”. A video shows an initial fireball erupting in an upper portion of the Falcon rocket.
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SpaceX was preparing for the test firing of its unmanned Falcon rocket when the blast happened shortly after 9 a.m.at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. “Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and there were no injuries”.
The explosion is a setback for SpaceX. Mark Zuckerberg, who is now in Kenya, is deeply disappointed with SpaceX and posted it on Facebook that they still have other technologies like Aquila, to connect the world.
The rocket was poised to launch the Amos-6 communication satellite, which included the capabilities for Facebook to spot-beam broadband for its Internet.org initiative.
“We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided”, he wrote on his Facebook account. Smoke billowed from the pad where the AMOS-6 satellite was to be launched Saturday morning. The first stage of the 70m (229ft) tall Falcon 9 is powered by nine SpaceX-developed Merlin rocket engines; the second stage – where the explosion appeared to originate – has a single Merlin Vacuum engine to boost payloads into orbit. The rocket was due to carry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) and failed about two minutes after liftoff.
Before then the firm lost several rockets as it attempted to land them upright on an ocean platform at the end of a flight – a crucial part of its strategy for reusable spacecraft. SpaceX may be able to launch out of a different site at Cape Canaveral, though.
United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed-Martin Corp and Boeing Co that flies its Atlas rockets at a pad next to SpaceX’s, said on Friday it had inspected its facility and found no damage or concerns.
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WFTV said on air: “This may have been the biggest explosion we have ever felt in central Florida”. “Our partners learn from each success & setback”.
