Facebook satellite/SpaceX rocket exploded

[theHawk]

Pretty incredible.


SpaceX rocket EXPLODES at Cape Canaveral space centre – blowing up Facebook’s £150MILLION internet satellite

The satellite was Zuckerberg's hope of bringing Internet to a large part of Africa. I guess Jihadi recruitment will have to live without it.

 

[Old Rocks]

What an asshole you are. Internet means that the knowledge of the world is available to anyone that has a basic computer. Of course, they will also be exposed to assholes like you and those that peddle ISIS.

But Zuckerberg will put that and other satellites up, and even the son of an illiterate goat herd in Africa will have the opportunity to be a nuclear physicist if he has a computer and the talent. When we have the best minds around the world being educated, and in communication with each other, our knowledge will advance even faster.

 

[Ozone]

What an asshole you are. Internet means that the knowledge of the world is available to anyone that has a basic computer. Of course, they will also be exposed to assholes like you and those that peddle ISIS.

But Zuckerberg will put that and other satellites up, and even the son of an illiterate goat herd in Africa will have the opportunity to be a nuclear physicist if he has a computer and the talent. When we have the best minds around the world being educated, and in communication with each other, our knowledge will advance even faster.

africans, best minds, it's true, none of their rockets have exploded.

 

[waltky]

Oops!...

Satellite owner says SpaceX owes $50 million or free flight
Mon Sep 5, 2016 - Israel's Space Communication Ltd said on Sunday it could seek $50 million or a free flight from Elon Musk's SpaceX after a Spacecom communications satellite was destroyed last week by an explosion at SpaceX's Florida launch site.

Officials of the Israeli company said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite. SpaceX said in an email to Reuters that it does not disclose contract or insurance terms. The company is not public, and it has not said what insurance it had for the rocket or to cover launch pad damages beyond what was required by the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial U.S. launches, for liability and damage to government property. SpaceX has more than 70 missions on its manifest, worth more than $10 billion, for commercial and government customers.

An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in this still image from video in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. September 1, 2016.​

The space launch company is one of three major transportation and energy enterprises Musk leads. The others are electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc and SolarCity Corp, and Musk faces separate challenges at each of those money losing companies. Spacecom has been hit hard in the aftermath of the Thursday explosion that destroyed the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its payload. The Israeli company said the loss of the satellite would have a significant impact, with its equity expected to decline by $30 million to $123 million.

Spacecom shares dropped 9 percent on Thursday, with the explosion occurring late in the last trading day of the week. Trading in the shares was suspended on Sunday morning, and the stock plummeted another 34 percent when trading resumed. In a conference call with reporters, Spacecom's general counsel Gil Lotan said it was too early to say if the company’s planned merger with Beijing Xinwei Technology Group would proceed. Xinwei last month agreed to buy Spacecom for $285 million, saying the deal was contingent on the successful launch and operation of Spacecom's AMOS-6 satellite. "We hope to continue fruitful communications with the prospective buyer," Lotan said.

An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. September 1, 2016.​

Xinwei officials on Monday declined to comment on whether the incident would impact the terms of the deal. The firm said in a statement on Friday it was in close communication with Spacecom about how the incident would impact the merger. It added the accident would not impact its broader strategy to establish an integrated space information network.

CAUSE UNKNOWN

 

[SixFoot]

 

[waltky]

SpaceX Falcon shot down by flyin' saucer...

UFO theorists gain mainstream voice for the first time, blame alien sabotage as SpaceX counts losses
Tuesday 6th September, 2016 | WASHINGTON, U.S. – Following the recent explosion of the SpaceX rocket, alien theorists have risen magnificently to the occasion and provided a theory that beats all - the explosion was caused by anti-social aliens with a solid grudge against social network Facebook.

A report stated, “Around 9am EST, SpaceX's Falcon 9, a 604-ton rocket was being fueled with a concoction of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant when the upper region burst into flames. The entire craft was engulfed in what seemed like seconds, including Facebook’s $200 million communication satellite that was specifically designed to bring internet to Africa.” It is not such a shocker that alien theorists would jump on this opportunity, but what ignited the fire even in non-believers was the fact that SpaceX referred to there being “an anomaly” on the launch pad in a series of tweets - this is a term used by governments instead of UFOs. UFO conspiracy theory blogosphere immediately fired up reports showing an official video of the test firing that they claimed shows a UFO flying at “incredible rate of speed” past the space vessel and launch pad just before it exploded. Soon after, a Reddit user claiming to have worked as a welder at the site, posted a message stating that several minutes before the launch, personnel at the site had spotted UFOs in the sky over the facility.

The user claimed he was unable to provide photographic and video evidence of the alleged UFOs because personnel is not allowed to bring phones and cameras to the site. His message, that spread like wildfire amongst the ever-inquisitive community of extraterrestrial hunters said, “I am a welder at Kennedy Space Center and before launch a lot of us were noticing strange lights in the sky above the pad. About 20 minutes before launch there was an impression in the clouds of an oblong shape… 3 white lights appeared… and then just disappeared with a blink of an eye.” Soon UFO hunters and allied conspiracy theorists crowded the virtual space with their two bits of wisdom and comments. The video footage of the failed launch posted online showed a strange object that can be seen flying towards the rocket before and then several times after the explosion, capturing the attention of online truth-seekers, despite earlier claims that it could have been a drone that destroyed the rocket, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk continued to insist that the cause was yet unknown.

A small, silver shape “that climbed to at least 2000 feet in less than one second” can be found soaring over the flames, leading to rumours that it was a flying saucer. UFO expert Scott Waring said, “You know, when you see aliens involved in an explosion of a rocket, that the rocket could have had massively bad implications on humanity’s future.” He added, “Lucky the aliens destroyed it [SpaceX] before it started WW3.” Steve Svensson, who shared a version of the clip, wrote, “It appears that SpaceX may have been shot by a very fast moving drone, or possibly an explosive in the satellite was triggered? We all know people love to hate Elon Musk.” One commenter verbally eye-rolled at the speculations and wrote, “There are birds flittering around all over the place throughout the video. This is nothing unusual.” The destroyed satellite was intended to spread the use of Facebook to sub-Saharan Africa, but believers claim that the anti-social aliens hated the networking phenomenon as much as it did MySpace.

The theory-pushers were unmoved by SpaceX’s statement that read, “We are currently in the early process of reviewing approximately 3,000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a time period of just 35 to 55 milliseconds as part of an investigation with the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force to determine the exact cause of the explosion.” Israeli communications satellite operator Spacecom saw a one-third drop in its value after ‘Amos-6,’ its satellite on the SpaceX Falcon 9 was destroyed in the explosion. Shares plunged to a 10-year low of 49 percent, and Facebook and France-based satellite provider Eutelsat have announced the cancelling of service agreements with the firm. David Pollack, Spacecom Chief Executive Officer said, “We are actively seeking alternative options for satellite providers following the loss, including building a new satellite, which may take an estimated 24 months.” Spacecom's $285 million merger with Beijing Xinwei Technology Group is also being questioned.

MORE

See also:

NASA asteroid probe may find clues to origins of life on Earth
September 6, 2016 - A U.S. space probe was cleared for launch on Thursday to collect and return samples from an asteroid in hopes of learning more about the origins of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system, NASA said on Tuesday.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to dispatch the robot explorer Osiris-Rex on a seven-year mission. United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Lockheed-Martin and Boeing. Osiris-Rex is headed to a 1,640-foot (500-meter) wide asteroid named Bennu, which circles the sun in roughly the same orbit as Earth. Scientists estimate there is a one-in-800 chance that Bennu might actually hit Earth 166 years from now.

Heating from the sun gently pushes the asteroid, and charting its path is among the goals of the $1 billion mission. The U.S. space agency also hopes Osiris-Rex will demonstrate the advanced imaging and mapping techniques needed for future science missions and for upcoming commercial asteroid-mining expeditions. Osiris-Rex is expected to reach Bennu in August 2018 and begin a two-year study of its physical features and chemical composition. The solar-powered spacecraft will then fly to Bennu's surface and extend a robot arm to collect at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of what scientists hope will be carbon-rich material.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft which will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and bring a sample back to Earth for study into the origins of life.​

"We're going to asteroid Bennu because it's a time capsule from the earliest stages of solar system formation, back when our planetary system was spread across as dust grains in a swirling cloud around our growing protostar," lead researcher Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona told a prelaunch news conference on Tuesday. Inside the developing solar system, small rocky bodies were beginning to form, many of them studded with water ice and organic materials, which are key compounds that may have made Earth habitable or even given life its start, Lauretta said.

If all goes as planned, the capsule containing samples from Bennu will be jettisoned from the returning Osiris-Rex spacecraft on Sept. 24, 2023, for a parachute descent and landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range. Osiris-Rex is the latest in a series of missions to asteroids that began with the 1991 flyby of asteroid Gaspra by NASA's Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft. Japan's Hayabusa 1 probe managed to return a few tiny grains of asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010, the first asteroid sample return mission. A follow-on mission, Hayabusa 2, is underway. The Osiris-Rex launch was set for between 7:05 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. on Thursday (2305 to 0105 GMT on Friday).

NASA asteroid probe may find clues to origins of life on Earth

 

[pwjohn]

What an asshole you are. Internet means that the knowledge of the world is available to anyone that has a basic computer. Of course, they will also be exposed to assholes like you and those that peddle ISIS.

But Zuckerberg will put that and other satellites up, and even the son of an illiterate goat herd in Africa will have the opportunity to be a nuclear physicist if he has a computer and the talent. When we have the best minds around the world being educated, and in communication with each other, our knowledge will advance even faster.

You have to keep in mind that repubs are the new pinko commies.