U.S. Spy Satellite Believed Lost After SpaceX Mission Fails -- Update
09 Janvier 2018 - 7:07AM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
An expensive, highly classified U.S. spy satellite is presumed
to be a total loss after it failed to reach orbit atop a Space
Exploration Technologies Corp. rocket on Sunday, according to
industry and government officials.
Lawmakers and congressional staffers from the Senate and the
House have been briefed about the botched mission, some of the
officials said. The secret payload--code-named Zuma and launched
from Florida on board a Falcon 9 rocket--is believed to have
plummeted back into the atmosphere, they said, because it didn't
separate as planned from the upper part of the rocket.
Once the engine powering the rocket's expendable second stage
stops firing, whatever it is carrying is supposed to separate and
proceed on its own trajectory. If a satellite isn't set free at the
right time or is damaged upon release, it can be dragged back
toward earth.
Scheduled for mid-November, Zuma's launch was delayed when
SpaceX announced engineers "wanted to take a closer look at data
from recent" tests of a fairing, or protective covering for a
satellite, used for another customer. At the time, the company
didn't publicly outline what prompted the additional testing.
Fairings are used to shield satellites that are carried near the
nose of the rocket. They remain in place during the early phases of
the ascent, but are jettisoned before final insertion into
orbit.
During the launch, SpaceX didn't signal any problems with the
fairing or associated hardware. Since then, it has declined to
indicate whether such issues caused or contributed to Sunday's
missteps.
The lack of details about what occurred means that some possible
alternate sequence of events other than a failed separation may
have been the culprit.
For rapidly growing SpaceX, which seeks to establish itself as a
reliable, low-cost launch provider for the Pentagon, the failed
mission came at an important juncture. The company is competing for
more national-security launches against its primary rival, a joint
venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
As of Monday night, nearly 24 hours after the launch,
uncertainty surrounded both the mission and the fate of the
satellite, which some industry officials estimated carried a price
tag in the billions of dollars. Notably, the Pentagon's Strategic
Command, which keeps track of all commercial, scientific and
national-security satellites along with space debris, hadn't
updated its catalog of objects to reflect a new satellite circling
the planet.
Neither Northrop Grumman Corp., which built the satellite, nor
SpaceX, as Elon Musk's space-transportation company is called, has
shed light on what happened.
A Northrop Grumman spokesman said, "We cannot comment on
classified missions."
A SpaceX spokesman said: "We do not comment on missions of this
nature, but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9
performed nominally." That terminology typically indicates that the
rocket's engines and navigation systems operated without glitches.
The spokesman declined to elaborate.
It isn't clear what job the satellite was intended to perform,
or even which U.S. agency contracted for the satellite. As usual
for classified launches, the information released by SpaceX before
liftoff was bereft of details about the payload. A video broadcast
Sunday night narrated by a SpaceX official didn't provide any hint
of problems, though the feed ended before the planned deployment of
the satellite.
Mr. Musk's closely held, Southern California-based company has
projected ramping up its overall launch rate to more than 25
missions in 2018, from 18 in 2017, and is scheduled to start
ferrying U.S. astronauts to the international space station before
the end of the year.
If preparations remain on track, SpaceX later this month
anticipates the maiden launch of its long-delayed Falcon Heavy
rocket, featuring 27 engines putting out more power than roughly 18
Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
Northrop Grumman not only was the prime contractor for the
satellite, it was also responsible for choosing the launch
provider. Despite SpaceX's growing list of accomplishments,
including routinely landing, refurbishing and reusing the main
stages of Falcon 9 boosters, industry and government officials have
said some in the intelligence community continue to have qualms
about relying on Mr. Musk's nontraditional business practices.
Byron Tau contributed to this article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 09, 2018 00:52 ET (05:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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