Space-X (
www.spacex.com) founder Elon Musk has called the Falcon 9 explosion “the most perplexing failure in our 14-year history”.
US investigators are still looking into why the Falcon 9 rocket, developed by Mr Musk’s company, blew up on 1 September before a scheduled test launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The explosion incinerated a satellite Facebook Inc had intended to use to beam Internet access across parts of Africa.
Mr Musk, CEO of Space-X and car-maker Tesla Motors, wrote in a tweet on 5 September that the rocket’s engines were not on at the time of the explosion.
He also asked for any recordings of the event to be e-mailed to the Haw-thorne, California-based rocket maker. “Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation.
Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years,” Mr Musk tweeted later. “Important to note that this happened during a routine filling operation. Engines were not on and there was no apparent heat source.”
The accident led to Space-X’s second loss of a spacecraft in just over a year, and occurred 8min before a scheduled test firing during a ‘dress rehearsal’.
Space-X, which was founded in 2002, said it began searching for the “root cause of the accident” immediately after the loss, reviewing about 3,000 channels of telemetry and video data covering 35 to 55 milli-seconds.
The Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, the US Air Force and other industry experts are also involved in the investigation.
Mr Musk went on to say: “We are particularly trying to understand the quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off. It may have come from a rocket, or something else.”
Asked on Twitter whether it was possible that a foreign object had struck the rocket, he said: “We have not ruled that out.”
Data showed the “anomaly” started around the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank, the company said. “The blast is a reminder of the peril inherent in space flight, which relies on controlled explosions to power payloads into orbit,”
Mr Musk added.