An upgraded version of Space X's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket ran into trouble when it roared to life on Thursday for a "static test fire." The glitch forced the company to put Sunday launch plans on hold.
"Full thrust achieved on 2 sec static fire," Elon Musk, the company's chief executive and technical lead, tweeted Friday. "Some anomalies to be investigated, so launch date tbd."
On Sunday, Musk took to Twitter again, saying the company will perform another static fire test in order to "make sure all is good." According to the tweet, the probable launch day is now set for either Sept. 29 or 30.
The delays do not come as a surprise given the rocket's many changes over its predecessor.
"Upcoming Falcon 9 demo has a lot of new technology, so the probability of failure is significant," Musk tweeted days prior to the tests.
Though the launch of the new rocket is largely seen as a demonstration, it will carry with it the Canadian Cassiope research satellite, Discovery News reports.
According to Spaceflightnow.com, Cassiope is headed for an elliptical polar orbit through the Earth's ionosphere where it will sample plasma and other energetic particles.
The previous Falcon 9 rocket made history in 2012 when it successfully launched the cargo ship Dragon into orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), making SpaceX the first commercial company to visit the orbiting lab. The company is currently working to expand its capabilities so as to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, per an agreement with NASA.
Even this would represent only the beginning for Musk who founded the company in 2002 with the goal "of enabling people to live on other planets." As a key to this, the company works to develop reusable rockets in an effort to significantly decrease the cost of space travel.
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