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Northrop Grumman, rather than SpaceX, is reportedly responsible for the loss of a secret satellite (reportedly) worth $3.5 billion:
In early January, SpaceX adamantly denied rumors that it had botched the launch of a classified spy satellite called Zuma, and now, a new government probe has absolved the company of blame for the spacecraft's loss. Government investigators looking into the mission determined that a structure on top of the rocket, called the payload adapter, failed to deploy the satellite into orbit, The Wall Street Journal reports. That adapter was built by defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which means SpaceX isn't at fault for Zuma's demise.
This scenario aligns with what many speculated at the time. SpaceX launched Zuma on top of its Falcon 9 rocket on January 7th, and just a day later, reports started to surface that the satellite had fallen back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere after the mission. However, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell claimed that the rocket performed as it was supposed to. "For clarity: after review of all data to date, Falcon 9 did everything correctly on Sunday night," she said in a statement. "If we or others find otherwise based on further review, we will report it immediately. Information published that is contrary to this statement is categorically false."
[...] Meanwhile, the payload adapter failure isn't a good look for Northrop Grumman, which is having a difficult time piecing together another important spacecraft right now: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Northrop is the main contractor of the telescope and is currently integrating large pieces of the spacecraft at the company's facilities in Redondo Beach, California. However, NASA recently announced that James Webb's launch will have to be delayed until 2020, due to a number of mistakes and delays that were made at Northrop during the construction process.
SpaceX should demand to use its own payload adapters for any new classified/national security launches, because it will probably be granted in light of this "Beltway bandit" fiasco.
Previously: SpaceX's Mysterious Zuma Mission May Soon Take Flight
Rumors Swirl Around the Fate of the Secret "Zuma" Satellite Launched by SpaceX
Zuma Failure Emboldens SpaceX's ULA-Backed Critics; Gets Support from US Air Force [Updated]
Related: GAO: James Webb Space Telescope Launch Date Likely Will be Delayed (Again)
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to May 2020, Could Exceed Budget Cap
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 10 2018, @09:58AM (1 child)
someone is reading from the wrong script! Isn't *everything* SpaceX does wrong, bad, expensive, bad for shareholders, etc etc?
How can something *not* be SpaceX's fault?!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday April 10 2018, @11:14AM
Maybe you're thinking of Tesla, a publicly-traded company accumulating a mountain of debt.
The script on the Zuma incident was flipped pretty early. IIRC, the mission was even delayed due to issues with Grumman's payload adapter.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Tuesday April 10 2018, @10:52AM (2 children)
People assume that Northrop-Grumman should regret such a failure. But consider: now they have to replace the satellite. Another nice little cost-plus contract for a few $billion coming right up. The James Webb telescope is no different - another cost-plus contract [nasa.gov] - so the longer the project stretches out, the more money the company makes. Where's the problem?
Seriously, the government needs to write a lot fewer cost-plus contracts, and include a lot more penalty clauses. Drive a couple of these beltway companies into bankruptcy, and maybe the priorities of the others will change. Or else they will be replaced by new competitors.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 10 2018, @11:23AM
They would probably get away with JWST. It's just more delays on a long road of delays.
But losing the $3.5 billion Zuma was a big blow. At the very least, SpaceX ought to be allowed to handle the payload and use their own adapter(s) for classified launches. This should also be considered against Northrop Grumman when future contracts are being negotiated. But it might turn out as bad as you say.
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:39PM
Free market instead of nepotistic entitlement? Surly you speak madness.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday April 10 2018, @01:49PM (2 children)
My paranoid streak still makes me wonder. Did Zuma actually make it to orbit? The unknown TLA who owns Zuma wanted to create the idea that Zuma failed. Blame SpaceX. But SpaceX is unwilling to take the blame. So blame Northrop Grumman, because they can be pressured to take the blame because of how deeply they depend on government contracts.
So this story is big headlines today. Then it will all blow over and be forgotten.
Question: will there be a replacement satellite for the "failed" Zuma?
Maybe Zuma really failed and burned up. But I'm not so sure I blindly trust that story. Especially when I saw an interview with the press questioning someone in uniform and someone not in uniform. "You'd have to ask SpaceX" they said. But SpaceX said they couldn't be any more specific than that their rocket performed perfectly. When pressed with a question about how this is a billion dollars of taxpayer money. Something at least worth an investigation, even if classified, that they should at the very least be able to simply disclose whether it failed or not. But they wouldn't even be that specific.
Ten years ago, my most paranoid thoughts seemed outlandish. Until 2013 when confirmation arrived from Snowden that things were already far worse than many of us thought.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 10 2018, @02:33PM (1 child)
It's pretty difficult to hide satellites in orbit.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday April 10 2018, @03:19PM
Assuming it wasn't launched to LEO, it could be pretty hard to detect. The farther out it's launched the bigger the surface area you have to scan to find that random satellite. You'd also have to know what you're looking for and / or have a large enough telescope to see what it is. Otherwise, it's just random object X.
Also, why would they make a "special launch" for a "special satellite". They could do a lot better, if they were trying to hide it. Also, I don't think the USA wants to go back on the No Weapons in Space treaty.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday April 10 2018, @11:42PM
Perkin Elmer screwed up in a big way by not testing the primary and secondary mirrors together.
A second shuttle mission was required to install a correcting lens that improved the misshapen optics' resolution, but the Hubble's resolution was never as good as was original promised to the astronomical community.
I myself could have fixed that problem in the garage of the house where I lived when I was seventeen, with a piece of kitchen sink drainpipe, a flat file, a hacksaw and a cheap plastic vernier caliper.
The calculations for the shapes of Ritchey-Chretien telescopes are complex. Someone dropped a sign. The incorrect calculation resulted in a metal tube called a "null test adapter" to be the wrong length.
The Foucault Knife Edge test is a null test for a sphere. That is, a spherical mirror appears flat. A parabolic mirror kinda sorta looks like a donut. A hyperbolic mirror looks like a donut too but is more of a deviation from a sphere than a hyperboloid is.
One can change the Foucault test from a null test for a sphere into a null test for a paraboloid or a hyperboloid by mounting a plano-convest lines on a short tube that is a specific, calculated distance from the knife edge.
_I_ don't drop signs.
When you want it done right, get Mike Crawford to do it.(SM)
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]