Unfortunately, some rural parts of the African continent are going to have to wait a little longer for internet connectivity.
Yesterday, something went really wrong at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida – the launch pad area used by SpaceX.
While the company – headed by Elon Musk – was prepping for a test firing, an explosion engulfed the pad in flames.
Unmanned, the 604-tonne Falcon 9 rocket was being fueled with a mix of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant. It was set to launch on Saturday, carrying a satellite designed to “bring the Internet to remote villages in Africa and help the social media giant expand its global footprint.”
The satellite belonged to none other than Mark Zuckerberg.
You can see the blast in the video below – it happens around the 1:11 mark:
Now, the efforts of both men have been destroyed, explained by Los Angeles Times:
The explosion was another blow to Musk, the Los Angeles entrepreneur who also runs Tesla Motors Inc. He began his summer by learning that federal regulators were investigating the Autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S electric car after a fatal crash.
And SpaceX was still trying to ramp back up after another Falcon 9 rocket exploded in midair minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in June 2015. Lost in the blast was $110 million in cargo for the International Space Station.
The Amos-6 satellite sitting atop the SpaceX rocket was going to beam high-speed Internet and other digital services to sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe as part of an effort by Facebook to provide Internet access to poorly connected areas.
The satellite’s manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, took out an insurance policy on the Amos-6 worth $285 million – the same amount as the total value of the satellite, according to a person familiar with the matter.
While investigations into the matter are underway, that’s a lot of money to lose over one explosion.
RIP Falcon 9.
[source:latimes]
