Israel space agency: Satellite loss major blow
Israel’s space agency says the destruction of an Israeli “communication satellite” during a US test-launch amounts to a “severe blow” to the regime’s aerospace industry.
On Thursday, a massive explosion destroyed a rocket belonging to the US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX during routine test firing in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The blast resulted in the loss of the Falcon 9 rocket and Amos-6, the Israeli satellite it had been due to carry into space on Saturday.
“As far as the Israeli communications satellite industry is concerned, this is a very severe blow which could place the future of the industry in doubt if it is not dragged out of the mud,” said Isaac Ben-Israel, the chairman of the Israeli space agency.
He told Israeli Channel 10 television that it might take three years to build a replacement.
“This is a blow, and the next satellite, if Space Communications manages to overcome the crisis that it will face, and decides to order another one, could be in another three years or so,” Ben-Israel said.
The regime’s Israel Aerospace Industries which had built the satellite issued a statement, saying the “total loss” of the satellite “will have a significant impact on the company.”
The blast, which SpaceX said had been caused by an “anomaly” during the static fire-test, resulted in no injuries, but shook buildings in the area and sent a fiery plume of smoke into the air.
The California-based SpaceX had already been dealing with backlash from a launch accident in June 2015.
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