As for the accident? SpaceX has narrowed down the likely cause to one of the composite overwrapped pressure vessels inside the liquid oxygen tank. Investigators can consistently reproduce a problem solely through the pressure and temperature conditions experienced while loading helium. Appropriately, SpaceX is improving its helium loading conditions so that it can "reliably" service Falcon 9 rockets going forward.

The updates are good news for SpaceX in more ways than one. It's in a scramble to regain trust from partners worried that they'll lose payloads in the future -- they need to know that explosions like this are unlikely to happen again for a long, long while. SpaceX also needs to show that its long-term plans for manned flights and Mars colonization won't face similar setbacks.