SpaceX rocket EXPLODES blowing up Facebook’s £150MILLION internet satellite

[Silent_Bob]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1710969/elon-musk-explosions-heard-at-cape-canaveral-space-centre-during-test-firing-of-spacex-rocket/

NASA says SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its pioneering unmanned rocket when disaster struck.

A series of explosions sent smoke and flames shooting through the sky and shook buildings miles away.

The blast took with it Facebook's first satellite costing the company a whopping £150 million.

The social media giant's devastated founder Mark Zuckerberg said: "As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided so much connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent."

SpaceX - founded by PayPal and Tesla tycoon Elon Musk - confirmed there was an anomaly on the launch pad which resulted in the loss of the rocket and its payload.

The Israeli made Amos-6 communications satellite was, according to Tech Crunch, carrying technology to allow Zuckerberg's firm to spot beam wireless internet directly to smartphones in sub-Saharan Africa.

The social media company was working in conjunction with a French satellite provider named Eutelsat to lease the communication array for five years.

It had roped in Israeli company SpaceCom - whose stocks fell nine per cent at the news - to operate the broadcast and telecoms satellite.

The first explosion occurred shortly before 9am with a second blast following about 20 minutes later.

Buildings several miles away shook from the blast and multiple explosions continued for several minutes. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky.

The test, considered routine, was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Additional details were not immediately available. But sirens could be heard in the aftermath.

NASA SpaceX's major customer said the explosion occurred at Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force station, and Kennedy emergency staff was on standby.

At the same time, personnel were monitoring the air for any toxic fumes.

The rocket was supposed to hoist an Israeli communications satellite this weekend which reports suggest was set to carry technology for Facebook into orbit.

The Amos-6 satellite had amongst its functions the capability for the social media company to spot-beam broadband for their Internet.org initiative.

[dalebert]

Dude... I almost had a panic attack when I thought I'd lost my iPad last night.

[Russell Kanning]

it can be rough

[WithoutAPaddle]

Any word on whether it was insured? It seems to me that a few years ago, when a Chinese rocket carrying an American or European payload failed, it was insured and I think the premium was around ten percent of the insured value.

[Erroneous_Logic]

I would hope it was insured. I mean, I don't exactly have a lot of faith in our good friends over at the book faces, but you have to be pretty dumb not to insure a $150 million dollars worth of electronics that you're trying to fling into space with a bomb.

[Russell Kanning]

when you are that rich ... I would think you are the insurance company

[Free libertarian]

Dude... I almost had a panic attack when I thought I'd lost my iPad last night.

It's under that stack of papers over by your desk, you're welcome  -  The NSA   

[Tom Sawyer]

Dude... I almost had a panic attack when I thought I'd lost my iPad last night.

It's under that stack of papers over by your desk, you're welcome  -  The NSA

How helpful!

[dalebert]

I would hope it was insured. I mean, I don't exactly have a lot of faith in our good friends over at the book faces, but you have to be pretty dumb not to insure a $150 million dollars worth of electronics that you're trying to fling into space with a bomb.

That's assuming any company is willing to insure it a price that makes it worthwhile. This is obviously a dangerous and experimental area of engineering as proven by the track record so far.

[Erroneous_Logic]

Nah, it's not that experimental or cutting edge. They've been shoving stuff up into space since the fifties. There's just risks. and there are insurance organizations that will cover the risks, for the correct price.

[Tom Sawyer]

Nah, it's not that experimental or cutting edge. They've been shoving stuff up into space since the fifties. There's just risks. and there are insurance organizations that will cover the risks, for the correct price.

Probably similar risk to the early insurance on a ship full of gold coming back from the New World.

[Erroneous_Logic]

Actually, less risk. These days, rockets don't blow up nearly as often as ships got sunk back then.

[Russell Kanning]

ya nevah know with these rockets

[Erroneous_Logic]

Yeah. Thus, insurance.

[Russell Kanning]

I just saw a commercial for Captain Obvious