The explosion is a major blow for SpaceX – and also for NASA, which relies on the company to keep the space station equipped with food, science experiments and other supplies.
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The blast at Cape Carneval marks a major setback for California-based private space firm and its founder, internet entrepreneur Elon Musk.
He noted that the launch pad damaged yesterday 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.
According to a report in Space News by Mike Wall, ” The explosion of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this morning (Sept. 1) was caught on video, and viewing it is quite an experience.
As a joint venture, Facebook and Eutelsat had leased part of the satellite’s bandwidth, which would be used to provide the internet service as part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative.
A dramatic footage of the explosion is doing rounds on the internet. “Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and there were no injuries”.
Loizos Heracleous, a professor of strategy at Warwick Business School, said such setbacks were par for the course – and would not affect SpaceX’s stated long-term goals of slashing the cost of space flight through the use of reusable rockets, and eventually colonising Mars. The Falcon 9 rocket was carrying a satellite to help Facebook expand the internet in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The regime’s Israel Aerospace Industries which had built the satellite issued a statement, saying the “total loss” of the satellite “will have a significant impact on the company”. The space station is well stocked and able to weather any potential delays to upcoming SpaceX deliveries, NASA said.
The Falcon 9 rocket burst into flames in a violent series of blasts starting at 9:07 a.m., spewing plumes of dark smoke around the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and sending vibrations felt by residents nearby. In that mishap, a support strut evidently snapped in the upper stage; the problem was fixed.
The explosion was particularly painful news for Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who is touring Kenya, promoting a program reliant on the satellite, known as Amos-6, with entrepreneurs in the country.
Given that SpaceX is working to provide NASA with a way to transport not just cargo, but also astronauts to the International Space Station, it is especially crucial that such learning takes place before any accident happens, He added.
SpaceX is the cheapest rocket launch provider and thereby preferred by the most.
Until September 1, the company had successfully carried out eight launches this year, with nine more in the wings by year’s end, including the debut flight of the so-called Falcon Heavy.
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Saturday’s launch was to be the ninth of the year for Space Exploration Technologies, which had settled into a steady tempo of flights following a June 2015 accident that grounded its rockets for six months. Boeing also is developing a crew capsule for NASA.
