An explosion has rocked the launch site for Elon Musk's Space-X Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The explosion took place during a test firing of the rocket ahead of the scheduled launch of an Israeli communications satellite on Saturday.

SpaceX says there are no injuries in the blast. It adds that an anomaly on the launch pad during the test firing resulted in the loss of the vehicle and its payload.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, in the aim of slashing launch costs and making travel to Mars affordable. The company plans to fly its first unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2018 and send humans to Mars as early as 2024.