Elon Musk has a lot on his hands these days. After so much praise earlier this summer, the explosion has set him back at a time he is struggling with cash problems at Telsa and SolarCity. And even though the satellite destroyed in the recent explosion was insured, SpaceX may still need to pay another $50 million to satellite owner Space Communication Ltd.
Even given such bleak news, SpaceX still remains an enormously innovative and successful company suffering some growing pains but still very much on the right track. And such incidents are unlikely to shake the industry's faith in greater diversification of vendors, thought insurance rates are certain to go up. In addition, some companies may start to wonder about the advantage of cheaper launches given the increased risk. This can only help the industry stalwart United Launch Alliance.
The investigation should tell us more about whether this was a fluke or a design problem. On Friday, Mr. Musk tweeted:
Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation. Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.