Launch date: TBD (Probably Saturday) Payload: Super secret spy satellite called Zuma. Built by Northrup Grumman. NRO denies that it's one of their birds. Who knows...?
This is a SLC-40 launch. There will be a 1st stage RTLS landing at LZ-1. It is the first flight of core B1043. Interestingly, this was going to be the CRS-13 core, but it was swiped from NASA at the last minute, thus why CRS-13 used a pre-flown booster.
It'll slip to Sunday and then will be scrubbed just like the last time. t.insider
Xavier Roberts
It won't be scrubbed because there's nothing wrong with the actual rocket, it's the wind shear caused by the bomb cyclone that hit the east coast that's delaying it; they're just waiting for the weather to clear up. It's obvious that the Zuma payload is very important considering how conservative and careful SpaceX is being with this launch.
Hudson Hill
>bomb cyclone
60 years alive listening to bullshit weather news and this is the first time in history I've heard that term on the weather news. Why is media so fucking retarded? It is a fucking winter tropical storm, just like every other one in the past 50 years.
Thomas Sanders
>60 years that's a lot of years
Austin Hughes
...
Nathan Cook
Gonna get nice 1st stage footage again, like with NROL76
Brayden Sullivan
Same here dude, the only unique thing about this storm seems to be how it just came out of nowhere, I guess if you think about it from this perspective the name 'bomb cyclone' makes perfect sense i.e. The storm sprang up and detonated in a very short period of time like an explosion.
William Mitchell
my rabbit is loving the snow. Good for tunneling
Andrew Hernandez
Looks like Sunday will be launch-day
Hunter Lopez
They found the actual term from Bomb-genesis or we say a cycline is bombing out. Usually associated with Hatteras Lows or Noreasters. It is defined as a low that drops 24mb in 24hrs. These events are not all that uncommon, though this particular low dropped much more rapidly than the marked 24mb in 24 hrs. Still the weather channel is stupid and sensationalized it.
Dominic James
This. What the fuck kind of name is a 'bomb cyclone'. Saw this on the news and just shook my head.
Aiden Moore
i thought i recall speculation was that it is probably an air force research satellite that is supposed to work with the x-37b
Caleb Russell
That patch is disappointing.
Every mystery launch needs a spooky patch.
Hunter Gray
same, but I heard it was working with the NROL76, not x37b.
The sat watchers will figure it out; they always do
>The two-hour primary launch window opens at 8:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 7, or 1:00 UTC on Monday, January 8. A backup two-hour launch window opens at 8:00 p.m. EST on Monday, January 8, or 1:00 UTC on Tuesday, January 9.
David Barnes
>NRO >Atlas V
spying is expensive, thanks russia for making it a little cheaper
Kevin Peterson
Heard Elon is going to fly this one via remote control.
Andrew Stewart
finger on the AFTS no doubt.
Can't wait for the D2 in flight abort. Maybe it'll be Little Joe II, II?
Mason Morales
14 hours
Ryan Richardson
Fairing is completely white...
Jason Peterson
no flag on the fairing. Could be a mission for another country's spy corps? GCHQ?
Christian Hill
>no flag on the fairing. doesn't mean anything, what goes on there is up to the customer
Josiah Perez
what is the payload Veeky Forums
come on I need your brains, you people are so fucking smart.
the shit I've seen you guys spontaneously crowdsource and accomplish, certainly you guys can figure this one out too!
Especially a community like Veeky Forums which has ACTUALLY IQ
t. shameful plebbitor
Jeremiah Price
no one knows. It's a secret payload.
the most we'll know is when the sat watchers figure out where its orbit is. check here periodically: satobs.org/seesat/index.html
Nolan Ward
someone figure out how to blow the fairing charges remotely
Aiden Robinson
someone should blow it up before launch. fuck those super-spy dickheads who wanna watch me masterbate all day.
Hate to say it but that was definitely the most boring SpaceX launch I've seen so far. >night launch so shit visibility >supersekrit payload so no second stage camera stream >interrupted and low bandwidth first stage stream >5 minutes of literally nothing before re-entry burn On the bright side this made me even more excited for the FH launch, regardless of how it fares.
Logan Cruz
just wait for the nice landing video. Other than that it's just a routine mission, made extra boring by the lack of anything shared with the public after MECO
Adrian Myers
Do you mean the /pol/ shia leboof flag shenanigans? Or the /b/ time magazine person of the year vote botting? Ya, they can really compare to the privacy and security of spacex...
Chase Taylor
GET
Jose Rogers
The rocket isn't exactly like some IoT toaster. You'd likely have to spoof the rocket sensors into thinking it has launched nominally and has reached target orbit. Those sensors aren't IoT either, BTW, so the easiest way to spoof those would be to launch it nominally and put it in target orbit..
Parker Russell
Nope. Range safety is all onboard. If it ends up going outside mission parameters it an heros
Gabriel Morris
holy SHIT that sound
now I wanna take a trip down and see the FH launch...
Jaxon Ross
They subtley used a four leafed clover for a reason.
Adrian Cook
There is a thread about this: Here are some theories:
>Space prison cell for the South African leader called Zuma. The man currently governing S.A is a robot or puppet. >A spy satellite with the sole purpose of monitoring moot and/or Veeky Forums users (as evident by that 4 leafed clover on SpaceX's official patch for the Zuma mission, pic related) >Spy satellite for spying on North Korea and/or China?
they always air some old promo commercial for non govt launches
I remember an iridium one, some Boeing one for the x37b
Ayden Hill
the time Veeky Forums altered 2008 election by hacking sarah palin's emails. the time Veeky Forums got a man arrested for animal abuse. the time Veeky Forums got a military officer discharged. the time Veeky Forums linked the crackdown on the silk road with NSA clandestine metadata electronic surveillance systems
Jordan Morris
>doesn't mean anything >t. spy agency
Andrew Harris
The lack of webms of the launch/landing ITT is appalling.
Connor Mitchell
apparently something went terribly wrong and the satellite was lost
2nd stage performed fine. it'll be a couple weeks before passes are visible in NA. Then the satobs people will find it
Gavin Campbell
Nothing went wrong, it's not been confirmed as active because no one has actually claimed the payload; even if it was lost nobody would know because neither the government or spaceX want the bad PR of losing such an important payload. Also considering how secret the mission was I highly doubt fucking arstechnica have a reputable source for this 'information'.
Aiden Robinson
>Adding to the intrigue surrounding Zuma: Reports that Musk has told his team that this is the company's most important/expensive payload ever launched. twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/950490705507569666
more important and expensive than a dragon or x-37b?
Ryan Davis
Does it matter? If no-one knows what it is, why wouldn't Musk PR his way about claiming that THIS launch was the most important.
Jesus you engineers and scientists don't into figurehead speaking. If it sounds similar to what Kim Jong-un would say, don't take it at face value.
Elijah Murphy
>government refuses to tell us anything about this classified payload >WELL MUSTA BLOWN UP
Grayson Wilson
I think it's the government who leaked this information to the media; it makes sense, satellites are relatively easy to find so the government publishes its supposed orbit but decides to fake it's destruction and put it in a different orbit or maybe even rendezvous with another satellite to deceive any prying eyes.
>We're gonna go through four events here in rapid succession. And those are in order Nikko. Stage separation STS one and that the inspector. Amigos stands for main engine cut off that's when the first stage stops firing. Their follow stage separation went first and second staged apart from each other. SCS one is the third event that since her second engine start and second stage begins firing. And in the fourth event in that sequence use the boost factor and that's when first stage begins firing again to start its subject three back to landing zone one. About sequence Booker. About fifteen seconds in duration. Starting about fifteen seconds from now.
