CAPE CANAVERAL -- SpaceX is still homing in on why its Falcon 9 rocket exploded after liftoff last week, unable to resolve conflicting data radioed back to the ground before the explosion, CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday.
"It's a huge blow to SpaceX. We take these missions incredibly seriously," Musk said at a webcast International Space Station research and development conference in Boston.
So far, no one theory can account for the data collected prior to the rocket's breakup about 2-1/2 minutes after launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on June 28.
"The data does seem to be quite difficult to interpret. Whatever happened is not a simple straightforward thing," Musk said.
SpaceX plans to take its findings to the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees U.S. commercial launches, NASA and some customers to see if an outside eye can help resolve the conundrum.
"We want to see if we can get to what the most likely root cause is, look at both what we think most likely happened, and then anything that's a close call and try to address all of those things and maximize probability of success for future missions," Musk said.
Musk declined to elaborate on the most likely cause of the accident, but expects to be able to release more information by the end of the week.
"At this point, the only thing that's really clear is there was some kind of overpressure event in the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank. The exact cause and the sequence of events, there is still no clear theory that fits with all the data," Musk said.
