SpaceX explosion remains a mystery

The space start-up continues to investigate into the reason for explosion, with support from the American space agency, NASA, the U.S. air force, FAA and the experts in the field of space sciences.

But the loss of its Falcon 9 rocket is “turning out to be the most hard and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years”, Musk said on Twitter early Friday.

One clue he said investigators were exploring was a “bang sound” that may have come from the “rocket or something else” seconds before the rocket blew up while standing on its launchpad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was even quoted saying that this is the “most hard and complex” failure the company has to deal with so far.

Musk took to Twitter and said his company has already started an investigation. The first Falcon 9 rocket explosion, which took the company about three weeks to unveil the cause of, had occurred in June 2015.

A report out Thursday afternoon has a damning headline for Elon Musk: “SpaceX could be grounded for 9-12 months: ULA chief”.

Facebook’s ambitious plans of bringing internet access across world partly went up in flames with the Space X rocket that exploded on Thursday, September 8. The satellite, Amos-6, was built by Israeli satellite firm Spacecom. “To address these priorities, we have been working on this offering for more than a year, which allows our customers to launch in as few as three months from placing their order”. The engines were off and there was no source of heat around, which may have led to explosion.

Currently, SpaceX is leading an investigation with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation office.

Industry experts believe the explosion could have been caused by a fuel leak, unknown contaminants in the liquid oxygen propellant, or a problem with rocket staging.

Enlarge / Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida undergoing modifications by SpaceX. “We remain committed to our mission”. The Vandenberg launch pad is reportedly in the final stages of an upgrade, but it should be ready for a November launch, Shotwell said.