Generation liquid sabotage
But three industry officials with knowledge of the episode told The Washington Post that foul play has also been mooted as a possible cause. Someone at SpaceX reported that the video of the explosion appeared to show an oddly moving shadow and a white flash on the roof of a building a mile away seconds before the explosion.
Sources whisper that a SpaceX representative went around to the building and asked to inspect the roof in a "cordial, not accusatory, encounter.
SpaceX then called in Air Force investigators to take a look at the rooftop and nothing suspicious was found. Elon's Musketeers smashed apart the ULA's cozy monopoly for US military launches and forced it to compete on price, something the alliance has great difficulty doing with its current rocket system. But it's stretching the bounds of credulity to think that people within ULA hatched a cunning plan to take their rival out of the game by shooting up its rockets on the pad — from the roof of its own business to boot.
It would be a hugely risky move that would see executives jailed, if proved, and the risks far outweigh the reward. There are also practical problems. The ULA building is a touch over one mile from SpaceX's launch pad, and that makes it a very long shot indeed. The world record sniping shot is 2, meters 1. Anyone looking to take a potshot at the Falcon would have to take into account the wind speed, humidity, and then hit the rocket at precisely the right spot to make it look like an accident.
While it's technically just possible, Occam's razor would suggest that there is a more prosaic explanation for why the Falcon and Facebook's internet satellite went boom last month.
But that's not going to stop the conspiracy theorists going nuts on this one for a while. Musk said figuring out the cause of the explosion is an "absolute top priority" for his boffins. Particularly trying to understand the quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off.
May come from rocket or something else. We'll let you know here if ULA wishes to comment. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the Colorado-based organization. Minds Mastering Machines - Call for papers now open. The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community.
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Give us notch support or … you don't wanna know Fork it! Chyno 12 years ago. I wanted a dancing snowman! But i still hate that steriotype ninja. Tegeno 12 years ago. Dressing up that snowman was fun. The first sabotage I have not been scared by. Senboku 12 years ago. TheCrazyEmo 12 years ago. Aneurysm 12 years ago. I love that song!!!!!!
Bondagevamp 12 years ago. I knew that would happen and my fiance was like "I love that song, turn it up" That was the least scary sabatoge I have ever seen. Suiko 12 years ago. M3NACE 12 years ago. Twist13 12 years ago. I wanted my dancing snowman, not some random alien trying to scare me.
What a rip off. But I saw a kid with no legs "dance" once, in a documentary i think, and it was not very entertaining to see. MidoriBug 12 years ago. That was so lame Too bad because I really wanted to make my snowman dance. BleednBeauty 12 years ago. I did SO well on my guy. I gave him a pipe And all I got out of it was some f.
Rhubarb 12 years ago. That was sooooo stupid Storm-Pixie 12 years ago. Since I had already involved the kids into one thing this morning I decided to again try this on them. Lorah 12 years ago. GypsyCassie 12 years ago. I thought it was funny, I totally sent it to me ma like it was a christmas card, I want to watch her play it, that should at least be funny But dressing the Snowman up was fun. MVH 12 years ago. Bigmouse 12 years ago. MeiChooTan 12 years ago. Should have known not to trust Liquid Generation to do something nice.
JosephineHMS 12 years ago. Ah that scared me lol. I was expecting a nice little Christmas dance! DeadlyDream 12 years ago. N1kk1 12 years ago. XloveX 12 years ago. Im Going to get everyone a lil present That game would have been good if the snowman had actually danced!!! Crazygirl32 12 years ago.