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Rumors Swirl That Secret Zuma Satellite Launched By SpaceX Was Lost (scientificamerican.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the top-secret dept.

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.

12 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. It may be lost .. it may be not by sTERNKERN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I was a secret agency with an agenda and everybody watched my satellite being sent up into space I'd claim it was lost, too.

    1. Re:It may be lost .. it may be not by MrKaos · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I was a secret agency with an agenda and everybody watched my satellite being sent up into space I'd claim it was lost, too.

      Maybe it's fake news.

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      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    2. Re:It may be lost .. it may be not by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Smart people around the world have learned to look for the extra "darkness" of a US sat thats trying to hide.
      No new darkness, no new bright light ? No new sat? Did they get it just right this time?
      Misty (satellite) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:It may be lost .. it may be not by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      AC if it was a 100% gov/mil project then its cool to just try again. Nobody would know.

      The problem now is the private sector wants to claim its been successful for their role.
      So other projects have faith in their ability to put their things into space without fall apart.
      It got into space at the right location and time. The private sector did everything correct and then something after it moved away and became a gov/mil project?

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      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:It may be lost .. it may be not by fred911 · · Score: 5, Informative

      "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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      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    5. Re:It may be lost .. it may be not by Rei · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yep.

      Right now the focus is being put on the payload adapter, which mates the spacecraft to the stage. Normally SpaceX provides their own adapters, but for this mission, Northrop created a custom adapter for the spacecraft (makes you wonder what the unusual requirements were?)

      If the satellite was to be some sort of "stealth" payload, capable of hiding from ground observation, then "faking a separation failure" might be a perfectly prudent course of action. However, for most satellites, it would be immediately obvious whether it had separated or not, to any nation paying attention. And I'm sure lots of nations were paying attention to this.

      --
      The chloride owes the sodium money.
  2. Isn't it cute... by unwesen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... how life imitates art?

    "Classified" does not mean secret. It merely means that it got assigned a classification level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    But films in particular seem to find it using "classified" instead of the actual classification level much cooler. And now people use it for real.

    1. Re:Isn't it cute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The classification level of the classified mission is very classified.

      Posted as AC for classified reasons...

  3. Technically it met its goals by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    All we know about the satellite itself is that it was destined for a low-Earth orbit and built for the U.S. government.

    Well, it did achieve low-earth orbit... just somewhat lower than planned, and its tidally locked with the planet. But it's still orbiting once every 24 hours.

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    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Technically it met its goals by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hint: think very very low.

  4. How uncertain? by rew · · Score: 5, Informative

    "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...

  5. Payload did not separate by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

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    Better known as 318230.