Zuma (USA 280)

Launch data:

Description:

• The first orbital launch of the year was carried out by SpaceX on Jan 08 with a secret payload called ZUMA, to be sent to low Earth orbit inclined at 50 degr. SpaceX′s contract was with the Northrop Grumman company, which was probably also the spacecraft prime contractor, and fronted for the ultimate user which is an unknown US government agency (probably the NRO, but it′s always possible a new secret three-letter-agency has arrived on the scene). According to industry sources prior to launch, Northrop Grumman is known to have provided its own payload adapter instead of using the standard Falcon 9 one. A payload adapter connects the spacecraft to the final stage of the rocket and performs the actual separation of spacecraft from rocket once orbit is achieved. (Don′t confuse this with the payload fairing or nosecone, which protects the spacecraft from the atmosphere). This function is normally the responsibility of the launch provider, but it is reasonable to infer that in this case payload separation was the responsibility of Northrop Grumman or of the US government customer, rather than of SpaceX.

Mission details:

• The satellite, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, was initially scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A in mid-November 2017. The rocket performed a static fire test as part of its pre-flight preparation, but results from a payload fairing test for another customer led to a delay of nearly two months. The launch was subsequently rescheduled for 4 January 2018, and was further delayed because of weather-related concerns.
• Falcon 9 mission 48 was launched from Cape Canaveral′s Pad 40 and used first stage B1043, which returned to the Cape to land at landing zone LZ1. Mission events after payload fairing separation are secret, but SpaceX later reported that the Falcon 9 did its job correctly.
• The second stage was expected to separate from the payload and perform a deorbit burn after about 1.5 orbits, destroying itself over the Indian Ocean.
  Consistent with this, a rocket burn was seen at the appropriate time by observers in Sudan. It appared the vehicle tumbled during the burn, which should have reduced the effective velocity change, but perhaps not enough to prevent reentry.
• The US government has not publicly stated if there was a failure of Zuma, and this secrecy has generated speculations on its purpose and its fate. A number of articles published by the amateur satellite tracking community state that if the satellite is still in orbit and operating covertly, they will attempt to locate it visually. Until the end of January, Zuma was not visible from the Northern Hemisphere because all possible passes were in daylight or in Earth′s shadow.
• After an initial lack of official comment on the mission, a preliminary report concludes that the payload adapter manufactured by Northrop Grumman failed to separate the satellite from the second stage, resulting in its re-entry shortly after launch. SpaceX and the United States Air Force reviewed the Falcon 9 flight data and saw no issues with the launch vehicle itself that would affect future launches

External links:

• Wikipedia: Satellite Information
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking