Recently Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded just after launch during a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). What does this mean for the company? For the space transport industry? For NASA? For Elon Musk’s SpaceX?
Orbital Science’s Antares Rocket Exploded Shortly After Liftoff
This explosion comes fairly soon after NASA awarded a $3.6 billion contract to Orbital and SpaceX. The terms of the contract for Orbital were $1.9 billion for 8 flights through to 2016 (that’s $238 million per flight!). This is a great portion of Orbital’s business and success in these ventures would help to ensure contracts in the future.
SpaceX is a competitor to Orbital Sciences. SpaceX was created by Elon Musk.
This puts extra pressure on SpaceX to have a successful. I believe that SpaceX can take this as an opportunity to jump ahead of its competition. It is also possible to argue that now SpaceX and Orbital are now on the same level, given SpaceX’s rocket explosion in August.
After the explosion, Orbital’s stock price fell by just over 13%. This was probably caused due to a lack of confidence in the company. It has since been climbing back, gaining 2% today. This increase is probably because of investors jumping at the opportunity to regain investment at a lower price.
NASA will presumably come under fire for their decision to end the Space shuttle program and allow the open market to come up with a solution. Hopefully the future holds more success for Orbital, SpaceX and NASA.
Orbital Sciences Antares Explosion Coverage/Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/rocket-bursts-into-flames-moments-after-liftoff-from-nasa-base/
Orbital Sciences Shares Fall: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/orbital-shares-fall-after-antares-rocket-explodes-2014-10-28?link=sfmw_fb
SpaceX’s Shuttle Failure: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-25/spacex-failure-seen-slowing-nasa-pick-on-capsule-contract.html
Further Reading on the Subject, TIME Magazine: http://time.com/3544723/antares-explosion-nasa-elon-musk/
Images:
SpaceX: http://spacefrontier.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/spacex-logo.jpg
Antares Explosion: http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_44/739341/141028-antares-rocket-explosion-jms-1825_c6574a8e67fd20cddbc518bebd937bd4.jpg