[AR] Re: Say it ain't so Elon...
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2018 11:49:39 -0500 (EST)
On Tue, 9 Jan 2018, Nels Anderson wrote:
Might it have been a failure that's not relevant to the FH demo? Maybe
Zuma failed to separate from the second stage...
There are a couple of hints that way. For one thing, the satellite got a
catalog number (with no orbit info given, as usual for classified things),
which isn't usually done until it's been tracked at least once. And
apparently NorGrum supplied its own payload adapter for Zuma. This all
fits together: the one-of-a-kind custom adapter malfunctioned, the
payload didn't separate, the payload-plus-second-stage combination was
tracked once or twice, but then the second stage deorbited itself and took
the payload with it.
Henry
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