Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Report: Super-Secret SpaceX Payload, Zuma, A Total Loss

A report in the Wall Street Journal this morning says that the highly secret rocket mission launched by Los Angeles-based SpaceX on Sunday was presumed to be a total loss, and failed to reach orbit. According to that report, Zuma the billion dollar spy satellite plummeted back into the atmosphere after failure to separate from the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon. For its part, SpaceX told the WSJ that its launch was "nominal". No details on exactly what agency launched the "Zuma" payload have been announced by any of the parties involved, nor what the payload was designed to do.