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Rumors Swirl That Secret Zuma Satellite Launched By SpaceX Was Lost (scientificamerican.com)
Many media outlets are reporting that the U.S. government's top-secret Zuma satellite may have run into some serious problems during or shortly after its Sunday launch. Zuma was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Sunday evening -- a launch that also featured a successful landing back on Earth by the booster's first stage. While everything seemed fine at the time, rumors began swirling within the spaceflight community that something had happened to Zuma. "According to one source, the payload fell back to Earth along with the spent upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket," Ars Technica's Eric Berger wrote. Scientific American reports: To be clear: There is no official word of any bad news, just some rumblings to that effect. And the rocket apparently did its job properly, SpaceX representatives said. "We do not comment on missions of this nature, but as of right now, reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally," company spokesman James Gleeson told Space.com via email. Space.com also reached out to representatives of aerospace company Northrop Grumman, which built Zuma for the U.S. government. "This is a classified mission. We cannot comment on classified missions," Northrop Grumman spokesman Lon Rains said via email. All we know about the satellite itself is that it was destined for a low-Earth orbit and built for the U.S. government. We will update this story if we hear anything else about Zuma's status.
"Government officials confirm the mission was lost".
Now you might doubt the veracity of that statement and keep your tinfoil hat on, but it doesn't get more certain than that.
This: "rumors are going around that" story is simply a few hours older than the "it has been confirmed that"....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technol...
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/0...
In my own experience with military and NATO people, "classified" in everyday parlance means "assigned a classification level other than Unclassified". And in some cases you may not want to disclose the actual classification level. "That is classified" is useful shorthand for "Sorry, you cannot have / share this, because reasons", and applies internally as well between departments or organisations, not just the press. It's not a term made up by Hollywood.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
"It may have had it's own thrusters that failed to operate after separation from the rocket"
Except that Northrop Grumman provided its own payload adapter for this mission and wasn't SpaceX's design, nor their responsibility.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/...
"So what actually happened? No one is saying for certain, but there are a couple scenarios in which the Falcon 9 could have performed as it was supposed to and the spacecraft didnâ(TM)t deploy correctly. Typically, SpaceX uses its own hardware on top of its rocket to send a satellite into orbit, what is known as a payload adapter. Itâ(TM)s an apparatus that physically separates the satellite from the upper part of the rocket and sends it into orbit. However, a previous report from Wired noted that Northrop Grumman provided its own payload adapter for this mission. And if that payload adapter failed, it would have left the satellite still attached to the upper portion of the rocket. Thatâ(TM)s certainly a mission failure, but it wouldnâ(TM)t necessarily be the fault of the Falcon 9."
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One article specifically pointed blame at Northrop Grumman, stating that the mechanism that controlled the release of the payload from the upper stage was built and controlled by Northrop Grumman. Which is why SpaceX can state that on their end, everything performed perfectly.
Better known as 318230.