A rocket Falcon 9 private company SpaceX exploded Thursday on the platform during a routine test launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida, destroying a satellite Amos-6 I was going to use Facebook to provide Internet to rural and underserved areas of Africa.
the explosion caused no injuries, but besides losing the rocket caused the device manufactured by the Israeli company Spacecom to be destroyed the director of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, claimed altruistically give web access in underserved regions.
Zuckerberg, who precisely is touring on the continent that was intended to help the destroyed artifact is he was upset by the loss and expressed his discomfort in his Facebook profile: “While I’m here, in Africa, I am deeply disappointed to hear that the failure of SpaceX destroyed our satellite,” he said
<. em> Amos-6 was hired by Zuckerberg to “provide connectivity to many entrepreneurs and people all over this continent” and other remote regions of the world as part of the internet.org initiative.
Although the accident disappointed the founder of Facebook, “fortunately we have developed another technology, such as Aquila, that also connect to people,” he added referring to a solar plane developed by social network to get the signal from the web to various remote areas, albeit with less coverage than could provide the Amos-6 .
SpaceX, at press time, no he said if Facebook compensate for the damage. Elon Musk, founder of the company looking to revolutionize the aerospace industry recycling components of rocket, reported what happened via Twitter.
The accident
“The loss (occurring) during the filling operation of the engine. It originated near the top of the oxygen tank. The cause is still unknown, “Musk wrote in a tweet.
A video of ABC News showed the explosion of the rocket in a huge fireball, then a series of explosions and eventually a dense column smoke covered the sky from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX auditioning to launch the satellite Amos-6 Saturday 3 September from the Canaveral Station Air Force Cabo, installation near the Kennedy Space Center NASA.
“in the preparations for the (test) static fire today, there was an anomaly in the platform that resulted in the loss of the vehicle and its cargo,” he said Phil Larson, spokesman for SpaceX. “The platform was evacuated and no injuries,” he said, without mentioning that proceed from the lost cargo.
The company confirmed that the accident occurred at 9:07 local on the launch pad 40 during a test.
Neighbors told local media have heard multiple explosions for several minutes. The office of emergency management Brevard County said there is no risk to the general public arising from “catastrophic” accident.
Contacted by AFP, executives of the company Spacecom, for now they would not give comments on the loss of the satellite developed.
it is also a problem for SpaceX, trying to clear his name after the explosion of a rocket on June 28, 2015, two minutes after off with a Dragon capsule containing provisions for the International Space Station and was totally lost.
Amos-6 was the greatest burden he would carry to date a rocket SpaceX. According to John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington, the satellite had an estimated value of $ 300 million.
The accident probably disrupt plans to hold another six launches by January 2017. “it’s clearly a setback, but how big it is and how long the operations will be delayed, it is impossible to know,” he said Logsdon.
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