The cause of the enormous blaze last week that destroyed a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s $95 million internet satellite remains unknown. And it could take SpaceX a long time to solve the mystery, judging from the way Elon Musk has been tweeting this morning.
For the first time since the absolutely insane-looking anomaly (technically, SpaceX still won’t call it an explosion) that incinerated a rocket and maybe a good chunk of that rocket’s launch pad on September 1st, Elon Musk took to twitter to vent about his very, very bad day:
Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation. Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2016
Important to note that this happened during a routine filling operation. Engines were not on and there was no apparent heat source.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2016
Support & advice from @NASA, @FAA, @AFPAA & others much appreciated. Please email any recordings of the event to [email protected].
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2016
Today’s tweets are the first new information we’ve had on the explosion since a statement issued by SpaceX last Friday. SpaceX still has not stated how much damage its launch pad incurred, or how last week’s disaster will impact its jam-packed manifest of commercial and government launches.
One thing, however, seems clear: SpaceX is going to have to figure this one out before it gains the world’s confidence again.
