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Kennedy Space Centre Explosion

posted by janrinok on Thursday September 01 2016, @01:55PM   Printer-friendly

isostatic writes:

The BBC are reporting an explosion at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where SpaceX company was readying a rocket for launch.

The cause of the blast is not clear and it is not known if anyone was hurt. Nasa said SpaceX was test-firing a rocket which was due to take a satellite into space this weekend.

Pictures from the scene show a huge plume of smoke rising above the Cape Canaveral complex.

The force of the blast shook buildings several miles away.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday September 01 2016, @06:41PM

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Thursday September 01 2016, @06:41PM (#396311) Journal

    Nasa said SpaceX was test-firing a rocket which was due to take a satellite into space this weekend.

    It said the rocket's payload, a communications satellite for Facebook due to launch on Saturday, was also destroyed.

    Experts said the Amos-6 satellite was valued at more than $200m (£150m).

    The launch wasn't for another two days? Couldn't they have put a dummy payload on the rocket if they wanted to test it?

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by captain_nifty on Thursday September 01 2016, @08:18PM

    by captain_nifty (4252) on Thursday September 01 2016, @08:18PM (#396362)

    When a rocket is "assembled" at the launch site it is a little more complicated and permanent than just plugging in some cables and strapping down the satellite. It is a process that takes weeks and involves semi permanent welded connections. After all of the work is done on the rocket is when they start checking literally everything including the main engine systems, like the failed test here. Putting a dummy load on for the test would just add more work on the rocket after the test to ready it for launch, increasing the chances of a problem occurring, or requiring a new test.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @09:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @09:27PM (#396392)

    The launch wasn't for another two days? Couldn't they have put a dummy payload on the rocket if they wanted to test it?

    They thought they did. But this explosion was no mere accident. This is the first public surfacing of the hidden battle between super-intelligent AIs. This was the Google AI moving to block the Facebook AI from gaining a skynet foothold. The Google AI manipulated the weaker Elon AI's worker systems to emplace the satellite instead the dummy payload so that it could destroy both the rocket and the satellite during a vulnerability window the Facebook AI had overlooked.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @10:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @10:07PM (#396413)

    They simply want u to believe it exploded and was destroyed. Its up there already.