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Musk claims that SpaceX has solved the mystery behind their exploding rocket.
After an extensive analysis and investigation, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has released a new update stating that they have discovered the problem and solved the mystery behind the exploding rocket on September 1st in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
In a TV interview with CNBC, Musk has stated that they think they have managed to get to the bottom of the problem that led to the explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket while it was being refueled on the launch pad. He continued by stating that the root cause of the explosion was something entirely unexpected and not previously encountered in the history of rocketry.
Musk did not dive deep into the details of the problem but mentioned that it involves a combination of advanced carbon fiber composites, liquid helium, and solid oxygen. This combination led to the development of one of the hardest puzzles the company had to solve.
The explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket not only destroyed the payload which consisted of a $200 million AMOS-6 satellite produced by Spacecom, an Israel-based company. Facebook was keen on using the satellite to improve and expand internet coverage in countries located under the Saharan Desert in Africa. To make matters worse, the blast has also caused severe damage to SpaceX’s LC-40 launch site.
As a result, SpaceX had to temporarily shut down its commercial satellite launches and may even lead to the loss of several clients. In one case, NASA has offered Orbital ATK, the ISS supply run, other companies have already stated that they may be looking for alternatives for future launches.
In this regard, Musk and SpaceX have stated they believe the company will be ready to deploy another Falcon 9 rocket on a Launchpad by the middle of December. No additional details about what the first mission after addressing the problem of the exploding rocket will be. Nonetheless, SpaceX has to make up for this loss in consumer confidence while other rival companies are taking their new-found opportunities to make a name for themselves in a market mainly dominated by SpaceX until now.
It remains to be seen if SpaceX will respect the timeline mentioned by Musk or if they will be required to delay future launches.
What do you think about SpaceX? Think that they can recover after the exploding rocket?
Image source: Flickr
