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Comment by sehugg | Hacker News Reader

If you want more intrigue, the Swiss Space Systems CEO was kidnapped and severely burned just a few days before the SpaceX incident. Not necessarily a correlation, but points out that you can make enemies in any occupation.

https://www.thelocal.ch/20160905/swiss-space-firm-boss-left-...

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" A leader in space technology, S3 aims to make space more accessible by creating low-cost, reusable satellite launchers, a development not welcomed by all in the industry.

Last year the company’s base in Payerne was broken into and equipment damaged, said the Tribune."

Scary! Is there any more info on these attacks?

Looking for more, Paul. This from a Swiss news site says he had previously reported threats to the police, S3's data center was broken into and flooded with a fire hose, and that he remained in the hospital in serious condition with burns on his torso, arm, neck, and face, and would likely need transplants:

http://www.24heures.ch/vaud-regions/patron-s3-sauvagement-ag...

This one speculates on a connection with the SpaceX explosion, but has no new info:

http://www.bilan.ch/techno-plus-de-redaction/pascal-jaussi-u...

Swiss Space's web page's last press release is from 2014. There are threads on reddit and nasaspaceflight also just with speculation and no new info:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/518zy3/pascal_...

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31278.140

So their plans for 2016 is to "open a spaceport" and for 2017 - "assemble a shuttle". Sounds like either a money laundering setup or a massively overhyped startup. Combine with the fact that they have Russian version of the site and it might be safe to assume that the guy had a run-in with unhappy "investors".

PS. The 24heures news article says that his car was stopped when he was driving through the forest, severly beaten, douzed in gasoline and set on fire. Now that is pretty damn close to how they settled fiscal disputes back in post-Perestroika times. I'm pretty damn sure he just took money from wrong people and didn't deliver what he promised.

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