A reused SpaceX rocket carried 10 satellites into orbit from California on Friday, leaving behind a trail of mystery and wonder as it soared into space.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/12/22/spacex-sunset-rocket-launch/[/list]

SpaceX set to launch mysterious Zuma mission from Cape Canaveral after a near 2 month delay.

Cheers.

There are rumors that ZUMA never reached its orbit and may be back on the Earth. No information is coming either from Space X or the 45th Space Wing which launched it.
Tullio

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Due to nature of the payload being top secret it might already be in place doing it's job and to throw off keen eyes told everyone it is lost or crashed, but as far as Space X is concerned there rocket
performed as intended and was a perfect launch..

There are rumors that ZUMA never reached its orbit and may be back on the Earth. No information is coming either from Space X or the 45th Space Wing which launched it.
Tullio

More likely second stage reached its contracted position and orientation on time. Customer built mating adapter failed in some way, or the bird was dead out the of box. Second stage performed its planned deorbit burn at the correct time. The customer may have wanted downlink of camera's on the second stage to watch the deploy, but those feeds would not have gone to any console in the normal control room. Obviously when Space-X turned the second stage around for the deorbit burn they would know by the mass of the second stage if the bird deployed.

The real answer will come if Space-X gets more classified work.

My guesses are either the satellite did make it to orbit and the owners want to feed misinformation, or the satellite didn't separate from the 2nd stage and it was Northrup Gruman's responsibility. Northrup built the satellite adapter. Some articles are saying because it was so secretive, Northrup mounted and enclosed the satellite to the 2nd stage themselves. Either way, it's bad PR for SpaceX.

However, SpaceX is not opening any investigations, and other customers and NASA haven't asked for any. So SpaceX must be pretty confident that their rocket didn't have any problems during the mission.

Can't wait for the Falcon Heavy launch. Looks like it will be delayed until February. The static fire was been delayed multiple times.

SpaceX schedules Feb. 6 target date for Falcon Heavy test launch.

The whimsical passenger on the Falcon Heavy’s inaugural test launch is a dose of cross-brand marketing by Musk, who also founded the electric car company Tesla. One of Musk’s used Tesla Roadster sports cars will be mounted inside the Falcon Heavy’s upper shroud, and the rocket will attempt to give it a boost away from Earth and give the automobile enough velocity to escape the planet’s gravitational grasp.

Why a car?

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Another useless object in space. They should forbid such a launch, there are already too many old satellites in orbit, plus a Chinese Heavenly Palace ready to reenter the atmosphere (Tiangong-1).
Tullio

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If I understand correctly, the Falcon Heavy rocket, it all goes as it's supposed to, will boost its Tesla car payload into an independent orbit of the Sun. It's not at all likely to cause any trouble out there.
Even Mr. Musk appears to doubt that the rocket will work as planned, and reach space at all.

It looks like that an amateur astronomer, Scott Tilley, who was searching for the Zuma satellite has instead found an emission which could be that of the IMAGE satellite in high Earth orbit that NASA declared dead in 2005. The Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA is now investigating this emission. I get these news from theregister.co.uk.
Tullio
To confirm beyond doubt that the satellite is IMAGE, NASA will next attempt to capture and analyze data from the signal. The challenge to decoding the signal is primarily technical. The types of hardware and operating systems used in the IMAGE Mission Operations Center no longer exist, and other systems have been updated several versions beyond what they were at the time, requiring significant reverse-engineering.

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If I understand correctly, the Falcon Heavy rocket, it all goes as it's supposed to, will boost its Tesla car payload into an independent orbit of the Sun. It's not at all likely to cause any trouble out there.
Even Mr. Musk appears to doubt that the rocket will work as planned, and reach space at all.

More trash, no matter where it ends up. I do get he needs to test and needs ballast to test. A load of sandbags might be more appropriate than a car.

SpaceX has sent a GovSat communication satellite in orbit. The first stage was not to be recovered but put to a high thrust return burn and landed in water, where it shall be recovered and towed to a port.
Tullio

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy test flight. A complete success.
Awesome.
And the Falcon boosters landed simultaneously.

And the Tesla Roadster car stereo in stage 2 are now playing Space Oddity like on the ISS some years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

I've been watching that live on TV, amazing.

Cheers.

I've been watching that live on TV...

Me too.
Reminds me of the good old days and the Gemini and Apollo missions :)

According to what I've read the payload is bound for Mars. The payload being Musk's own Tesla sports car. It seems to me that even though there was a high probability of a launch failure there should have been a minimal scientific payload.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I watched it live and still want to know did the 3rd part land safely at the Sea Platform?

According to what I've read the payload is bound for Mars. The payload being Musk's own Tesla sports car. It seems to me that even though there was a high probability of a launch failure there should have been a minimal scientific payload.

It isn't going anywhere near Mars. It is going into an elliptical orbit between Earth and Mars. Can't get it near the planet, it hasn't been sterilized.

I watched it live and still want to know did the 3rd part land safely at the Sea Platform?

Apparently it will not land on earth.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/96098852715979571

Upper stage restart nominal, apogee raised to 7000 km. Will spend 5 hours getting zapped in Van Allen belts & then attempt final burn for Mars.

Live view of Starman
https://youtu.be/aBr2kKAHN6M

Two of the three main engines on the core rocket failed to relight causing it to crash in the sea. Even so two out of three makes additional missions much cheaper. Gary I never said they were planning to land on Mars. Please quit putting words in my posts.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.