SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had exploded spectacularly on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral last week, destroying the satellites it was supposed to put into orbit.
The explosion had been a particularly big blow for SpaceX, given that one of the destroyed satellites belonged to Facebook, and was supposed to launch its ambitious Internet.org service. Immediately after the blast, SpaceX had begun exploring the causes behind the explosion. A week later, it turns out that they’re having a hard time.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has just tweeted that the explosion was “the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.”
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
Particularly trying to understand the quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off. May come from rocket or something else.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2016
Musk goes on to say that they’re trying to understand a quieter bang that can be heard a few seconds before the fireball goes off. Most crucially, he says that it may come from the rocket “or something else” (emphasis added).
Now certain sections of the internet have been talking about a mysterious object that can be seen hovering next to the rocket right before it explodes.
There have also been hints about vested interests of rival corporations would could benefit from a failed SpaceX launch.
Musk also goes on to ask the general public to send them their personal recordings of the event. Now SpaceX probably has enough sensors and cameras in place to record most events during a launch; a request for more video footage from the public seems highly unusual.
And most importantly, Musk explicitly said during his tweetstorm that they weren’t ruling out that something hit the rocket.
@ashwin7002 @NASA @faa @AFPAA We have not ruled that out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2016
So Musk says it’s an unusual failure during a routine filling operation, says there was no apparent heat source, says they’re investigating a smaller bang right before the explosion, asks the public for more videos, and explicitly doesn’t rule out something hitting the rocket? Call us paranoid, but our spidey senses are tingling.