SpaceX To Launch Secret Zuma Satellite For US Government?
SpaceX is set to launch the top-secret Zuma satellite for the US government this week. Not much is known about the details of the mission as no particular government agency has claimed to be in control of the project.
The launch will be held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. There's currently no telling where the satellite will be going after lift-off although it's somewhere in low-Earth orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Zuma will lift off at the historic Pad 39A which once hosted space shuttle and Apollo moon mission launches. Back in 2014, SpaceX has already leased the facility of the next 20 years.
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The lift-off was originally planned for mid-November but was pushed back by the company in order to study data from a recent payload-fairing test performed for another customer. In addition to the Zuma, Friday's launch will also include a landing attempt by the first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 which is set to come back to Earth at Landing Zone 1, a facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
To date, the private space firm has landed Falcon 9 boosters a total of 20 times and reflown used first stages five times. Such activities are part of the company's plans to make space-travel cost effective through the use of reusable rocket parts. The company hopes to supplant NASA's decommissioned Space Shuttles and replace the Russian Soyuz as the main vehicle used to ferry supplies and astronauts into space.
SpaceX is also set to test its new Falcon Heavy rocket this year. The rocket will be carrying Elon Musk's own Tesla Roadster which will be sent to Mars orbit in what Musk. The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket to date and features two Falcon 9 boosters capable of carrying 140,600 lbs into space.
