Facebook was due to use the Amos-6 satellite to provide broadband internet coverage for swathes of sub-Saharan Africa as part of the social media giant’s Internet.org initiative. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank.
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Tim Bajarin, tech-industry analyst with Creative Strategies, said Zuckerberg and Facebook can be expected to work on getting another satellite up as soon as possible. It was supposed to hoist an Israeli communications satellite. The company has launched 25 rockets from the site since 2010.
Martin referred further questions on the explosion to SpaceX Public Affairs. Regardless of the cause, though, the incident could deal a major blow to SpaceX’s ambitious launch schedule.
SpaceX confirmed the payload was on board the Falcon 9 during the pre-launch test when the explosion occurred.
Facebook would have been among the customers for bandwidth on that satellite. The social media network said a year ago that, in partnership with Eutelsat Communications, it would boost data connectivity to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Beijing Xinwei Technology Group has agreed to buy Spacecom for $285 million, the companies said last week. The companies unveiled the agreement last week, but said it was contingent on the successful launch of the satellite and completion of its in-orbit tests. The pad had been cleared of workers before what was supposed to be a routine rocket test. Its shares closed down 8.9 percent at 38.95 shekels.
Local authorities said residents were not at risk.
“We actually thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad”, Seemangal wrote in a tweet, quoting his source.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a statement saying he was “deeply disappointed” to hear the launch failure had destroyed their satellite.
In a post on his Facebook page in October of previous year, Zuckerberg said that he was “excited to announce our first project to deliver internet from space”, saying, “as part of our Internet.org efforts to connect the world”, that “a new satellite called AMOS-6 is going to provide internet coverage to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa”. The potential impact on its revenues was estimated at up to 50 million euros by 2019, the company said in a statement. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were training for the first crewed Apollo flight that was planned to orbit Earth. SpaceX did not have a launch scheduled for Thursday morning.
The US space agency NASA said the incident took place shortly after 9:00am (1300 GMT). Officials at the time said range safety officers sent a destruct signal to the rocket after it appeared to break up during flight.
He noted that the launch pad damaged on Thursday was distinct from the one that will serve to launch SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, meant to ferry astronauts to the ISS starting in late 2017.
The California-based SpaceX had been ramping up with frequent launches to make up for a backlog created by a launch accident in June 2015.
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The company aims at making travel to Mars affordable by building reusable rockets.
