SpaceX postponed its launch of the AsiaSat 6 telecommunication satellite on Tuesday, just hours before its Falcon 9 rocket was due to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In a statement, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said "we are not aware of any issue ... but have decided to review all potential failure modes and contingencies again." He expected the process to be completed within two weeks.
Liftoff had been scheduled for 12:50 a.m. ET Wednesday — a day later than originally planned. SpaceX added that extra day to review the circumstances surrounding Friday's loss of its F9R test rocket. "We are confident that there is no direct link" between the F9R's problem and the Falcon 9's status, Musk said. "Had the same blocked sensor port problem occurred with an operational Falcon 9, it would have been outvoted by several other sensors. That voting system was not present on the test vehicle. What we do want to triple-check is whether even highly improbable corner case scenarios have the optimal fault detection and recovery logic."
IN-DEPTH
- SpaceX Rocket Detonates During Test Flight
- Despite Explosion, SpaceX Gets 'Useful' Data
- SpaceX Launches AsiaSat 8 Telecom Satellite
