A SpaceX rocket engine exploded Sunday during a test at the company’s facility in McGregor, Texas.
The Washington Post first reported the accident and SpaceX said it plans to conduct a full transparent investigation to determine the cause.
The explosion occurred during a “qualification test” of the next generation of the company’s Merlin engine, scheduled to be used during a Falcon 9 launch in late 2018. Testing on that engine will be suspended while the company looks into what went wrong, The Post reported. No one was injured in the explosion and the company does not expect the accident to impact its launch cadence.
SpaceX has launched 16 missions in 2017, a single-year record and double the amount of launches the company accomplished last year. The company has two Falcon 9 missions scheduled in the coming weeks, and there’s speculation the company will launch the Falcon Heavy rocket by the end of the year.
The Washington Post first reported the accident and SpaceX said it plans to conduct a full transparent investigation to determine the cause.
The explosion occurred during a “qualification test” of the next generation of the company’s Merlin engine, scheduled to be used during a Falcon 9 launch in late 2018. Testing on that engine will be suspended while the company looks into what went wrong, The Post reported. No one was injured in the explosion and the company does not expect the accident to impact its launch cadence.
SpaceX has launched 16 missions in 2017, a single-year record and double the amount of launches the company accomplished last year. The company has two Falcon 9 missions scheduled in the coming weeks, and there’s speculation the company will launch the Falcon Heavy rocket by the end of the year.
