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Title    Rumors Swirl Around the Fate of the Secret "Zuma" Satellite Launched by SpaceX
Date    Tuesday January 09 2018, @03:15PM
Author    mrpg
Topic   
from the :-( dept.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/01/09/038253

takyon writes:

A classified satellite launched by SpaceX on Sunday may be experiencing a classified failure:

Later on Monday afternoon another space reporter, Peter B. de Selding, reported on Twitter that he too had been hearing about problems with the satellite. "Zuma satellite from @northropgrumman may be dead in orbit after separation from @SpaceX Falcon 9, sources say," de Selding tweeted. "Info blackout renders any conclusion - launcher issue? Satellite-only issue? — impossible to draw."

Update: SpaceX said the Falcon 9 rocket performed nominally, but unnamed sources reportedly told the Wall Street Journal that the payload did not separate from the Falcon 9 second stage and that both fell into the ocean:

An expensive, highly classified U.S. spy satellite is presumed to be a total loss after it failed to reach orbit atop a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rocket on Sunday, according to industry and government officials. Lawmakers and congressional staffers from the Senate and the House have been briefed about the botched mission, some of the officials said. The secret payload—code-named Zuma and launched from Florida on board a Falcon 9 rocket—is believed to have plummeted back into the atmosphere, they said, because it didn't separate as planned from the upper part of the rocket.

The WSJ report has been disputed. Space-Track has catalogued the Zuma payload as USA 280, international designation 2018-001A, catalog number 43098, but that doesn't necessarily mean Zuma survived. CelesTrak lists the status as operational (search 43098 in NORAD Catalog Number field).

If the mission did fail, SpaceX could also blame Northrup Grumman for using their own payload adapter.

Also at CBS News, SpaceFlight Insider, Bloomberg, Popular Mechanics, CNBC, and USA Today.


Original Submission

Links

  1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
  2. "launched by SpaceX" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/01/07/2112248
  3. "may be experiencing a classified failure" - https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/the-zuma-satellite-launched-by-spacex-may-be-lost-sources-tell-ars/
  4. "reported" - https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/950473623483101186
  5. "told the Wall Street Journal" - https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spy-satellite-believed-lost-after-spacex-mission-fails-1515462479
  6. "been disputed" - https://boingboing.net/2018/01/08/zuma-spy-satellite-lost.html
  7. "CelesTrak" - https://www.celestrak.com/satcat/search.asp
  8. "their own payload adapter" - https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/950574302910402561
  9. "CBS News" - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-zuma-satellite-possible-failure/
  10. "SpaceFlight Insider" - http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/secret-zuma-mission-lost/
  11. "Bloomberg" - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/spacex-launched-satellite-isn-t-seen-in-orbit-pentagon-says
  12. "Popular Mechanics" - http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a14848403/rumors-swirl-that-the-secret-zuma-spacecraft-launched-by-spacex-was-lost/
  13. "CNBC" - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/highly-classified-us-spy-satellite-appears-to-be-a-total-loss-after-spacex-launch.html
  14. "USA Today" - https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/01/08/secret-zuma-satellites-fate-unknown-after-spacex-launch/1015518001/
  15. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=24227

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