CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — Facebook head honcho Mark Zuckerberg must be pissed with his SpaceX counterpart Elon Musk after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a satellite that FB was planning to use exploded on the launch pad.
The blast occurred as the rocket was being fueled on Thursday, but the cause of the explosion was not immediately known, Reuters reported.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is designed to transport satellites and spacecraft into space. It has nine first-stage engines, which can sustain two engine shutdowns during flight without compromising the mission, according to SpaceX.
The second stage delivers the payload into orbit. Its single engine can be reignited several times to send multiple payloads into space.
The first stage of the rocket is designed to return to Earth so it can be reused. Rocket burns decelerate the Falcon 9 before four landing legs deploy.
The Falcon 9 that exploded on Thursday was carrying an Amos-6 satellite, which Facebook planned to use to boost internet connectivity in Africa. The $62 million Falcon 9 rocket was due to launch on Saturday.
Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook that he was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the mission’s failure.
And, Elon Musk aside, he definitely won’t be the only one.
Facebook is a customer of Israeli company Spacecom, which owns the Amos-6 satellite.
It remains to be seen if the blast will scupper Spacecom’s $285 million sale to a Chinese company, which was announced last week, according to Reuters.
Conditions attached to the deal said the satellite had to be launched successfully and complete in-orbit tests. Whoops!
