An explosion has occurred during preparations for a usual test firing of the AMOS-6 satellite launch at Cape Canaveral, US, destroying the satellite and its SpaceX Falcon 9 carrier rocket.
The satellite that exploded on the launch pad was meant to be used by Facebook to provide internet coverage to rural parts of Africa.
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Following the incident, SpaceX said that the explosion happened due to an anomaly occurred during propellant loading of the first and second stages of the rocket.
No injuries were reported during the incident, with SpaceX continuing to find out the root cause of the incident.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.”
“Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well.
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By GlobalData“We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.”
Last October, Facebook collaborated with French satellite company Eutelsat to lease the broadband capacity of the AMOS-6, which was built by Israeli communications satellite operator Spacecom.
The loss of AMOS-6 satellite is speculated to be a major obstacle for Facebook’s Internet.org initiative that intends to increase internet access worldwide, reported The Guardian.
