SpaceX reportedly lost its mysterious Zuma payload


While SpaceX successfully relanded the most recent Falcon 9 it launched -- Elon Musk even tweeted about it -- its top secret payload apparently met a different fate. According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuma failed to make it to orbit, and authorities believe it has plummeted back into the atmosphere. No government agency stepped forward to claim the satellite, but industry experts estimate its cost to be billions of dollars. WSJ says the satellite didn't separate from Falcon 9's upper stage as it should have, but Bloomberg reports that it was the rocket's second stage itself that had failed.

Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell noted that space situational awareness service Space-Track catalogued Zuma. Space-Track adding something to its catalog means that object made it to orbit. However, Navy Captain Brook DeWalt told Bloomberg that the military division has "nothing to add to the satellite catalog at this time." It's all conflicting reports all around, and unfortunately, both SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, which built the satellite, refuse to talk. "We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally," the space corporation told Engadget.

If the payload truly crashed or disappeared, then this incident came at a bad time for SpaceX. The company is hoping to start ferrying astronauts to the ISS this year and to win more contracts from the Pentagon. Although what happened to Zuma remains shrouded in mystery, McDowell said Northrop Grumman provided its own adapter used to attach the payload to the rocket's final stage. If the adapter was the one that failed to pop off when it was time for Zuma to detach itself, then the incident might not be SpaceX's fault at all.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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