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SpaceX's Mysterious Zuma Mission May Soon Take Flight [Update: Successful]

posted by martyb on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the frogs-in-space? dept.

[Update: The launch of the secret payload was reportedly a success. The Stage 1 booster returned to the LZ-1 landing pad at Cape Canaveral and landed successfully. If you missed the launch, SpaceX usually posts a recorded copy a few hours after launch at the same YouTube location as the live stream.]

SpaceX's Mysterious Zuma Mission May Finally Take Flight Sunday

Fnord666 writes:

Originally planned for a November launch, the mysterious Zuma mission may finally go to space on Sunday evening. SpaceX has confirmed that its rocket, and the undisclosed national security payload, are ready for launch, and weather conditions appear to be generally favorable. The two-hour launch window opens at 8pm ET.

An undisclosed issue with the Falcon 9 rocket's fairing caused SpaceX to delay the launch for several weeks in November and eventually move the date forward to January 4. Earlier this week additional propellant loading tests contributed to further delays, as did "extreme weather" at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida—mostly gusty winds.

But now conditions for the mysterious mission are 80-percent go, weather-wise, in Florida. This is SpaceX's third classified mission, and arguably its most secretive flight for the US military. All that is publicly known about the Zuma payload is that it is a satellite manufactured for the US government by Northrop Grumman, and it is bound for low-Earth orbit.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/watch-live-spacexs-zuma-mission-may-finally-be-ready-to-zoom-into-space/

SpaceX to Launch Classified Zuma Mission: 0100-0300 UTC on 8th (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST on 7th)

martyb writes:

According to Spaceflightnow, classified US Military mission payload Zuma, whose launch has been rescheduled several times, has a two-hour launch window coming up shortly.

Launch, and planned booster rocket return to base, are scheduled to be live-streamed on YouTube; coverage begins approximately 15 minutes before the launch window opens.

While waiting, consider partaking of a different kind of Zuma.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:07PM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:07PM (#619300) Journal

    Military Industrial Complex Payload! Thye should have paid that $60m directly to SpaceX for BFR development instead!!!!!!!1

    While waiting, consider partaking of a different kind of Zuma [wikipedia.org].

    Cultural Appropriation by PopCap Games dev Jason Kapalka [twitter.com]!!! A culture and g_d died to make your shitty clone possible!

    With that out of the way, what else can you say? It's not Falcon Heavy, it's a Secret Payload, it has a mysterious-sounding name (much like the SPECTRE bug), it's not Falcon Heavy, and I guess I'll watch it live since I woke up.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:43PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:43PM (#619311) Journal

    With that out of the way, what else can you say? It's not Falcon Heavy, it's a Secret Payload, it has a mysterious-sounding name (much like the SPECTRE bug), it's not Falcon Heavy, and I guess I'll watch it live since I woke up.

    It probably has to launch first. Word is that SpaceX isn't going to launch the Falcon Heavy till Zuma is out of the way.