--- title: SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom description: Spacecom could seek $50 million or a free flight from Elon Musk’s SpaceX after a rocket explosion destroyed a Spacecom satellite. canonical: https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-05T14:09:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:27.806Z article:section: Science og:title: SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom After Explosion og:description: After a rocket explosion wrecked a Spacecom satellite og:url: https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f2d328c29697a9/6988a4d70a4a22bed99cb26d/spacex-explosion1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1616 og:image:height: 909 og:image:alt: spacex explosion og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom After Explosion twitter:description: After a rocket explosion wrecked a Spacecom satellite twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f2d328c29697a9/6988a4d70a4a22bed99cb26d/spacex-explosion1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom After Explosion > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 5, 2016 2:09 PM UTC  An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida Sept. 1, 2016. An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida Sept. 1, 2016. Reuters  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 5, 2016 2:09 PM UTC Israel-based satellite operator Space Communication Ltd. said on Sunday that it could seek $50 million or a free flight from [Elon Musk’s SpaceX](http://time.com/4476888/elon-musk-spacex-explosion-tesla/) after a [rocket exploded](http://time.com/4476416/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-rocket-explosion-satellite/) on a Florida launchpad last week, destroying a Spacecom satellite. The Israeli satellite firm said the damage to the satellite could cause its equity to decline by $30 million to $123 million, [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-blast-spacecom-idUSKCN11A0YV) reports. Spacecom officials said they also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite, according to the news agency. The satellite that exploded on Thursday, Amos-6, was built by Spacecom. It’s unclear what caused the blast, but Musk wrote on Twitter that the issue may have involved the rocket’s upper stage oxygen tank. Facebook was set to use the destroyed satellite to offer Internet access in parts of Africa. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-blast-spacecom-idUSKCN11A0YV)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/"},"headline":"SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom After Explosion","datePublished":"2016-09-05T14:09:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:27.806Z","description":"After a rocket explosion wrecked a Spacecom satellite","url":"https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/","keywords":["Space","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f2d328c29697a9/6988a4d70a4a22bed99cb26d/spacex-explosion1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f2d328c29697a9/6988a4d70a4a22bed99cb26d/spacex-explosion1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"spacex explosion","caption":"An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida Sept. 1, 2016.","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4479174/spacex-explosion-spacecom-satellite/","name":"SpaceX Could Owe $50 Million or Free Flight to Spacecom After Explosion"}}]}] ```