Yet another SpaceX rocket exploded yesterday while fueling up for a test-fire on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Over the past two years, the program has suffered several explosions and landing mishaps. During previous missions, Falcon-9 rockets have been used to carry cargo to the Russian International Space Station. Several ISS missions have been successful, but this rocket’s cargo had a different destination.
Recently, Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, has headed a massive push to bring WiFi to all the ends of the Earth. For several years, Zuckerberg has actively been a supporter and contributor to the Internet.org initiative. In collaboration with Eutelsat Communications, Zuckerberg was pursuing a plan to launch the Amos-6 satellite into orbit for the purpose of expanding broadband internet access to several blackout spaces in Africa. To the despair of many, the SpaceX rocket carrying the satellite exploded yesterday with its payload on board.
Everything was completely destroyed in the explosion. The Amos-6 communications satellite was estimated to be a loss of more than $200 million. Zuckerberg, who is actually in the middle of a business trip to Africa, wasn’t too busy to post a response to the disaster on his personal Facebook page.
“We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided,” wrote Mark.
The explosion was reportedly described as quite “significant” by witnesses. Just after 9 a.m., the SpaceX rocket exploded at Launch Complex 40, which is currently a leased property to the rocket program. SpaceX said in a recent statement that the explosion was an “anomaly”, and it “originated around the upper stage oxygen tanks and occurred during propellant loading of the vehicle.”
Immediately following the explosion, a full evacuation of the area revealed that there were no injuries. As expected, the rocket designers will continue to analyze every moment before the blast to further pinpoint what went wrong. Currently, the explosion is being attributed to a buildup of static in the fuel tanks.
“As per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and no one was injured. We are continuing to review the data to identify the root cause,” said Elon Musk, CEO of the SpaceX rocket company.
The rocket designer’s main goal with the SpaceX rocket program has been to design rockets that can be flown into space more than once. This requires the ability for the rocket to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land without exploding. Last year, this fiction was made true. In December, the SpaceX rocket program landed one of their Falcon-9 rockets on a relatively small ocean platform. The first reused rocket was scheduled to fly in October of this year.
Another failure is never good news for such an ambitious company. SpaceX is well-known for their oversized dreams concerning space travel. Their main goal is to make space travel cheaper and more commonplace in the future. They plan to begin transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. Their CEO, Elon Musk, even plans to reveal plans for building a colony of humans on Mars this month. It might be a good idea to get these mishaps under complete control before ever putting a person on one of their rockets.
Today’s explosion may have been an anomaly, but SpaceX doesn’t exactly have a flawless past. They have lost several rockets to landing mishaps. As recent as June of this year, a SpaceX rocket exploded after crashing into a drone ship. One of the rocket’s three engines failed, and instead of a smooth landing, the Falcon-9 rocket hit the landing area with massive force. It was reported that the landing pad camera was damaged and broken, but footage was released of the catastrophe shortly thereafter.
SpaceX has hosted many failed landings, but it must be considered a necessary part of the job when working with rockets. Something has to go wrong for engineers to have the opportunity to update the design. All the SpaceX missions thus far have been unmanned, so there has been no human loss during the company’s exponentially expensive growing pains.
“Every landing SpaceX has attempted has been slightly different as the company experiments with different orbits and methods. Crashes are nothing new for the company they're almost an expected part of the process as the engineers figure out how to adjust those orbits for the highest possible success,” Gizmodo expresses.
“SpaceX Rocket Explodes” does have a nice ring to it, but let’s hope the company gets it right next time. After the expulsion of the U.S. Space Exploration program from the priority list of the government, the nation has turned its eyes to privatized companies like SpaceX to fuel the future of our country's galactic reach.