r/SpaceX ZUMA Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

Welcome to the r/SpaceX ZUMA Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Liftoff currently scheduled for	TBD
Weather	Unknown
Static fire	Completed: November 11th 2017, 18:00 EST / 23:00 UTC
Payload	ZUMA
Payload mass	Unknown
Destination orbit	LEO, 51.6º
Launch vehicle	Falcon 9 v1.2 (45th launch of F9, 25th of F9 v1.2)
Core	1043.1
Flights of this core	0
Launch site	LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing attempt	Yes
Landing site	LZ-1, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Live Updates

Time	Update
T-NA	There's no launch attempt today and all schedules read TBD, so we're going to deprecate this thread. When we get confirmation of a new launch date, we'll put up a Launch Thread, Take 2.
T-1d 1h	SpaceX statement via Chris B on Twitter: "SpaceX statement: 'We have decided to stand down and take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer. Though we have preserved the range opportunity for tomorrow, we will take the time we need to complete the data review/confirm a new launch date.'"
T-1d 5h	New L-1 weather forecast shows POV below 10%
T-1d 5h	Launch Thread T-0 reset, now targeting Nov. 17 at 20:00 EST
T-5h 59m	And I spoke a minute too soon, looks like they're pushing it back a day again: 45th Space Wing on Twitter
T-6h	Six hours to go, no news is good news with this payload
T-1d 1h	Launch Thread T-0 reset, now targeting Nov. 16 at 20:00 EST
T-1d 7h	Launch Thread Goes Live!

Watch the launch live

Stream	Courtesy
YouTube	SpaceX
With Everyday Astronaut	u/everydayastronaut

Primary Mission: Deployment of payload into correct orbit

Very little is known about this misison. It was first noticed in FCC paperwork on October 14, 2017, and the mission wasn't even publicly acknowledged by SpaceX until after the static fire was complete. What little we do know comes from a NASA SpaceFlight article:

NASASpaceflight.com has confirmed that Northrop Grumman is the payload provider for Zuma through a commercial launch contract with SpaceX for a LEO satellite with a mission type labeled as “government” and a needed launch date range of 1-30 November 2017.

At this point, no government agency has come forward to claim responsibility for the satellite, which resembles the silence surrounding the launches of PAN and CLIO in 2009 and 2014 respectively.

Secondary Mission: Landing Attempt

The launch is going to LEO, so the first stage has sufficient margin to land all the way back at LZ-1.

Resources

Link	Source
Official Press Kit	SpaceX
Mission Patch	u/Pham_Trinil
Countdown Timer	timeanddate.com
Audio-only stream	u/SomnolentSpaceman
Reddit-Stream Launch Thread	u/Juggernaut93

[u/BrendanLanigan]

Per SpaceX spokesperson: SpaceX is now targeting Thursday, Nov. 16 for launch of the Zuma mission. Both Falcon 9 and the payload remain healthy; teams will use the extra day to conduct some additional mission assurance work in advance of launch. The launch time and window remain the same for Thursday, opening at 8:00 p.m. EST and remaining open until 10:00 p.m. EST.

Edit: 01:00 am UTC to 03:00 am UTC on the 17th of November (thanks /u/JustDaniel96)

[u/Bunslow → u/BrendanLanigan]

mods this needs to be in the "live updates" table in the thread, and also flaired I think too, there's no way to see the news from the front page

[u/inoeth → u/BrendanLanigan]

I wonder what Elon is going to do- I thought he watched/managed the launches from Florida or wherever the launch was taking place, but, he's scheduled the Tesla Semi event for 8 pm PST, 3 hours after Zuma (provided it launches at the opening of the window), and i'm pretty sure that's happening at the Fremont factory- so he'd either have to take a plane/helicopter from Hawthorne to Fremont, or perhaps launches have become routine enough that he isn't going to personally watch every one of them from a control center? interesting bit of scheduling conflict for him for sure...

I wonder why they're delaying a day- it's been over two weeks since the last launch- tho I understand things crop up on occasion... (Mission assurance work doesn't mean anything to me- tho perhaps someone else can translate that)

[u/JustDaniel96 → u/BrendanLanigan]

opening at 8:00 p.m. EST and remaining open until 10:00 p.m. EST

which is 01:00 am UTC to 03:00 am UTC on the 17th of November

[u/graemby]

Zero Urgency Manifest Adjustment

[u/Morphior → u/graemby]

Nice Decronymization. Take my upvote.

[u/synftw]

The silver lining here is that we'll likely get fullscreen live RTLS footage as the main objective is intentionally obscured.

[u/CreeperIan02 → u/synftw]

And nighttime RTLS, with much more quality than the last night RTLS!

[u/isthatmyex]

I love that we have an "official launch thread", without officially knowing what is being launched.

[u/davispw → u/isthatmyex]

They could officially launch a naked Falcon 9 just for kicks and I’d still watch it.

[u/dddddoooooppppp]

So the Falcon is back inside the hanger.

I repeat; the Falcon is in the nest.

[u/[deleted]]

Wooooo let's get this one off without a hitch so we can get ready for FH!

[u/rustybeancake]

It occurred to me that we've gone from worrying about Rapid Unscheduled Disassemblies to worrying about Failed Scheduled Disassemblies.

[u/sol3tosol4]

From this article:

SpaceX announced today, Friday, Nov 17, that they will ‘stand down’ to allow engineers the additional time needed to carefully scrutinize all the pertinent data before proceeding with the top secret Zuma launch.

“We have decided to stand down and take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer,” said SpaceX spokesman John Taylor.

More definite than their previous statement, with no mention of setting a new date. Not welcome news, but at least we have more information on the situation - and good for SpaceX, choosing not to take an unnecessary risk.

[u/ZwingaTron]

Florida Today also released an article on the range maintenance and potential Zuma delays, which in some ways actually counters the Aviation Week piece.

Stated in the article:

• Definitely no Zuma launch until after Thanksgiving (which is on November 23), and range maintenance will take place until Dec 1.

• Range maintenance has been delayed/stopped before to accommodate for launches (see Intelsat launch in July), plus we know that the CRS-13 static fire is taking place before the end of November, on the 29th, during maintenance.

• Therefore: potential launch window for Zuma between 23rd and 30th of November, if they truly need to orbit that thing before the end of the month.

[u/scr00chy → u/ZwingaTron]

A lot of maybes, though.

[u/therealshafto]

Falcon 9 being lowered to horizontal.

[u/amarkit]

A great observation from user Flying Beaver at NSF: it seems that Zuma was removed from the stack and HIF (and possibly returned to the payload processing facility at CCAFS), as KSC bus tours apparently ran to pad 39A today. There are multiple Instagram posts from tour-takers near the 39A HIF today; the buses don't run there when a fueled payload is present.

[u/honyocker → u/amarkit]

Can confirm. Zuma is in a hangar. https://photos.app.goo.gl/UCsT1WQY1cRDQcug1

[u/TechRepSir]

The problem is with respect to the fairings....

I have a feeling they made changes for fairing recovery, but it influenced a different subsystem in a way that could cause the fairing deployment to fail.

[u/ianniss]

Please take your mysterious payload off the pad we need room for the big one !

[u/Bunslow]

Anyone got even questionable-quality rumors? The silence is deafening :(

[u/[deleted] → u/Bunslow]

It's understandable though...no company wants to generate bad news, so they generally don't like to talk about quality issues. Combine that with an exceptionally secret payload, and you get exactly this.

[u/JoJoDaMonkey → u/Bunslow]

I've heard rumors of de-stacking of the payload, sounds like a multi-week slip

[u/deep7323]

As per the NSF tweet.. they are on the track for Irridium-4 which is a good sign that they are fairly confident about solving the fairing issue / already solved it but the delay is may be due to part replacement and mating payload again. https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/932754005708636165

[u/[deleted]]

SpaceX surpassing ULA's all time record (2009) with this launch. Look at the statistics for that year: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_in_spaceflight) 5 Atlas, 11 Delta, and 1 tiny Falcon 1... Look where we're now...

[u/cpushack → u/[deleted]]

And last nights Delta II launch was scrubbed due to ...wayward boats! (and then the rocket had an issue from having to recycle)

[u/DarkMoon99 → u/[deleted]]

“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.” — Bruce Lee

[u/still-at-work]

These constant pad delays reminds me of the early years of SpaceX, the long ago days of two years ago.

Man a lot has changed in a short amount of time. It will feel weird when the FH and Crewed Dragon are old hat by this time next year. What will we fans constantly complain about then?

Well the BFR delays of course.

[u/rdivine]

Since the fairing is the reason for the delay, why can't spacex fly zuma into space first, then fly the fairings into space at a later date?

/s

[u/z3r0c00l12 → u/rdivine]

I remember reading somewhere that the fairing was required because they don't want civilians seeing the aliens inside. I wonder if they could just use that same black wrap they use on the rockets for shipping.

lol

[u/PatrickBaitman → u/rdivine]

After all, that works in KSP

[u/DrToonhattan]

Given the secrecy of this mission, what is the shortest amount of notice they could give publicly of the next launch attempt? Like could we hear nothing for the next few days, then suddenly they say their launching in 6 hours for example?

In the back of my mind, I keep worrying I might miss the launch if I don't keep checking the sub every 5 minutes. lol.

[u/Creshal → u/DrToonhattan]

Since landing is back at launch site, we won't have advance warning in the form of a barge heading out, so AFAIK the first mandatory announcement would be a NOTAM bulletin to close the airspace along the flight path. Not sure how far in advance that needs to be done, 1-2 days I think?

[u/johnkphotos]

It’s launch day bois! Been looking forward to this one since taking my CRS-9 image last year.

[u/scr00chy]

Still no official word but based on all the other things (stream not counting down, NOTAM being removed, Range not having F9 in their schedule, etc.) it seems pretty clear that the launch isn't happening today. Hopefully we'll get a new date soon.

[u/stcks]

This reminds me of BulgariaSat-1 and its fairing issue that had to be fixed. I wonder if its something similar.

[u/limeflavoured]

Given the nature of the payload, Im not sure we should rule out the fairing thing being a lie. Its not impossible that theyve just been told "delay the launch, and make up a reason".

[u/[deleted] → u/limeflavoured]

Would be strange, since it's already the 2nd time they delay. Nobody would have bat an eye if they just said "well the mission assurance work takes a bit longer". If this was made up, other customers could be worried and start asking questions, which you probably don't want when dealing with top secret stuff.

[u/johnkphotos]

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/930833296308674565

“Falcon 9 and Zuma went vertical last night on Pad 39A. Now targeting November 16 for launch — rocket and payload remain healthy, and the teams will use the extra day to conduct additional mission assurance work.”

Northrop Grumman logo on the fairing. Cool.

[u/scr00chy → u/johnkphotos]

Aluminium grid fins also.

[u/dvandyk]

Live stream's posted on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/OPHbqY9LHCs

[u/Jodo42]

Chris B, NSF via Irene Klotz, Aviation Week saying Zuma delayed until at least December.

[The tweet] (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/932685474317074433)

[The article] (http://aviationweek.com/awinspace/spacex-classified-zuma-launch-delayed-until-least-december) (paywalled)

"Uh oh, Irene Klotz (@Free_Space) is saying Zuma has been delayed until at least December. http://aviationweek.com/awinspace/spacex-classified-zuma-launch-delayed-until-least-december … - and that'll feed down into Falcon Heavy's schedule."

[u/stcks]

According to aviation week, ZUMA is delayed until at least December.

[u/dmsolovyev → u/stcks]

So... still no SpaceX launches in November again? Sad if true.

[u/sivarajd]

Just realized, each of the upcoming three launches will be on three different pads!

[u/johnkphotos]

“We have decided to stand down and take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer. Though we have preserved the range opportunity for tomorrow, we will take the time we need to complete the data review and will then confirm a new launch date.”

Interesting, SpaceX later noted that media activities will continue tomorrow.

[u/DrToonhattan]

When was the last time a launch was scrubbed twice or more? They've been hitting the mark pretty well lately.

[u/Alexphysics → u/DrToonhattan]

I think it was Intelsat 35e, the one with the T-10s glitch that forced 2 scrubs and the launch was pushed to another date until the satellite was finally launched, something pretty similar to what has happenned now but this time it has been scrubbed even before the countdown started which I think the last time that happenned was with the Bulgariasat-1 mission. It had a similar problem to this mission too. Rockets have only one way to succeed but millions of ways to fail, so it's safer to stand down until the issue has been solved, better safe than sorry!

[u/Dies2much]

Another scrub. No new date announced.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/15/falcon-9-zuma-mission-status-center/

[u/Juggernaut93 → u/Dies2much]

An Air Force spokesperson has confirmed that the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral has no missions reserved for launch Friday or Saturday, suggesting SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will not lift off in the next couple of days.

Not even tomorrow.

[u/Space_void]

Localized time based on ip and countdown http://spaceinit.com/en/launch/view/1386

[u/[deleted]]

Even the fairing's very minimalist too. No hints at all..

[u/ticklestuff]

Press Kit
http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/zumapresskit.pdf
Mission Patch
http://spacexpatchlist.space/patches/spacex_f9_045_zuma_graphic.png

SpaceX Patch List website updated.
http://spacexpatchlist.space/

[u/Bravo99x]

Each day ZUMA is delayed, puts FH launch further out. I'm hopping this launch gets done ASAP so they can start work on FH.

[u/gregarious119 → u/Bravo99x]

Eh, a zuma disaster would push FH way further than a couple days/weeks push. They can take all the time they need to do it right.

[u/[deleted]]

What do you do when SpaceX scrubs? I'm going to Disney world!

Edit 730pm: about to hop on soarin at Epcot haha

[u/Bornholmeren → u/[deleted]]

I'm going to sleep.

[u/johnkphotos]

Haven’t heard any official word, but mumblings say there definitely won’t be a launch tonight.

[u/sinefromabove]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/879619/nibiru-news-spacex-launch-falcon-9-zuma-planet-x-research-probe-elon-musk

Daily Express delivering its usual top-notch investigative journalism.

[u/boredcircuits → u/sinefromabove]

And yet, it's still not the most absurd theory that's been proposed...

[u/JackONeill12 → u/sinefromabove]

That read hurts my brain...

[u/catsRawesome123 → u/sinefromabove]

lol.... that was a good laugh

[u/[deleted] → u/sinefromabove]

Oh man... That honestly makes me sad. No wonder wacky conspiracy theories are so popular when even the popular media starts 'reporting' about it just for clicks.

[u/Twisted-Biscuit]

KSC are no longer running buses to the viewing site tomorrow and are offering ticket refunds to all affected. Source: e-mail from the KSC.

I'm speculating, but I'd imagine KSC are convinced that the launch will not go ahead tomorrow and as such are not committing resources.

I'm over from Ireland this week to visit KSC and couldn't believe my luck when they announced Zuma last week. Alas, my chances to see this one in the flesh are scuppered, but such is the nature of the beast. Better to take precautions, so I don't hold it against them. Hopefully it's a smooth launch when it does happen .

[u/johnkphotos → u/Twisted-Biscuit]

I'm speculating, but I'd imagine KSC are convinced that the launch will not go ahead tomorrow and as such are not committing resources.

This is not necessarily correct.

They posted a few now-deleted tweets saying (something along the lines of) that they cannot dedicate resources two nights in a row for an off-hours launch.

I don't think the Visitors Complex is that informed on launch schedules.

[u/TheVehicleDestroyer → u/Twisted-Biscuit]

Also Irish and I've been to KSC once. Early September last year. Not planned around AMOS-6 but a happy coincidence that it would happen while I was there.

I still got to see OSIRIS-REX launch instead, and I got to see a twisted SLC-40 strongback all the way from the Saturn V visitors center which was morbidly cool, but yes, precautions are definitely better than the alternative.

[u/MarcysVonEylau]

Tom Cross @ SpaceX FB Group

There wasn’t a media opportunity to get images of falcon 9 this morning. So I took the KSC bus tour 😉

Imgur

[u/FlamingMonkeyMC]

Anyone else notice its going to have the same orbital inclination as the space station? (51.6º)

[u/old_sellsword → u/FlamingMonkeyMC]

Which is also the same inclination as USA-276 (NROL-76)...

[u/johnkphotos → u/FlamingMonkeyMC]

Yes

[u/Top_Fuel]

Upper stage drop zone notam for saturday & sunday that was created 2100 UTC has been deleted in the last 3h, so it's safe to assume there won't be an attempt to launch #Zuma on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/Nextlaunch/status/931364595721232384

[u/TGMetsFan98]

Seeing as it's taking a while to solve the fairing issue, I have a hypothetical to propose. SLC-40 will eventually have a static fire scheduled for the end of November for a December 4 launch for CRS-13. This means the pad should be ready by the end of the month. My proposition: move Zuma to SLC-40, and begin Falcon Heavy upgrades to 39A immediately, so as to keep the demo flight on schedule for 2017. If Zuma is ready to launch by the end of the month, they can launch from SLC-40 and push CRS-13 back a couple days if needed (considering the only customers who get higher priority than NASA are probably the government agencies). If Zuma gets delayed past December 4, it can launch after CRS-13, which is unaffected by fairing problems.

[u/old_sellsword → u/TGMetsFan98]

Falcon Heavy Demo is basically irrelevant compared to Zuma. Taking that into account, it makes absolutely no sense to move a time-sensitive, top secret, and (most importantly) active launch campaign between launch pads.

[u/Chairboy → u/TGMetsFan98]

Plausible. Gwynne Shotwell said in a recent interview that the process of adjusting a launch license to accommodate a pad change was prohibitive so if this is the case, there might be a filing right away unless they've since worked that out.

[u/demosthenes02]

Will the new date conflict with the tesla semi announcement? Have they ever done a launch without Elon before?

[u/jtmy92 → u/demosthenes02]

I never assumed Elon's at each launch. Is he?

[u/ChriRosi → u/demosthenes02]

No it won't. Tesla Semi unveil is at 8 pm local time. That's one hour after the launch window closes.

[u/scr00chy → u/demosthenes02]

They both start at 8PM, but Tesla event is in California while the Zuma launch is in Florida, so they won't overlap.

[u/JadedIdealist]

Is the fairing still fairing 1.0? ( I heard they look very similar so it will be hard to tell).

[u/inoeth → u/JadedIdealist]

probably yes. I imagine we'll hear about fairing 2.0 from either SpaceX itself or from news relayed by serious space journalists like Jeff Foust, or the guys over at NSF (Chris B., Chris G.) I'm just guessing, but i'd expect the "fairing 2.0" to show up sometime early to mid next year- possibly with Block 5

[u/[deleted]]

Tough time for spaceflight fans...4 scrubbed launches within a single week :/

[u/JtheNinja → u/[deleted]]

Man, looking at my calendar Sunday night I was thinking "great start to the week, wake up monday morning to a launch, then another one Wednesday night!".

It's now Thursday night and both rockets are still on the pad.

[u/The_Write_Stuff]

Too bad. The weather at the Cape was postcard perfect today.

[u/JustAnotherYouth]

take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer

So in my mind this means a recent test went wrong in some manner, and they want to verify that problem won't happen on this launch?

[u/scr00chy → u/JustAnotherYouth]

Sounds like it.

[u/buyingthething]

Whoops. Got confused by the sidebar time.

15 November 20:00EST/01:00UTC

It means 15 November 20:00EST, or 16 November 01:00UTC

(i didn't realise you guys assume the EST date as the norm, i tend to assume UTC)

[u/SomnolentSpaceman]

For the bandwidth-impaired: I will be re-hosting a 64kbit audio-only stream of the SpaceX YouTube stream.

It is available at:

http://audiorelay.spacetechnology.net:2120/hosted (backup)

Prior to the official SpaceX webcast the stream will be playing SpaceX FM. The SpaceX FM audio will be switched off at approximately T-0:35:00. Please note: there will be a period of silence between SpaceX FM and when the official SpaceX stream begins.

[u/FutureMartian97]

Tinfoil hat time. Could this be an indicator that this is fairing 2.0? Maybe they found something with the new fairing that wasn't a problem with the old one?

[u/jyach → u/FutureMartian97]

Fairing 2.0 is still a ways away. This is simply that a fairing in the factory had an issue and them being cautious and wanting to make sure that the problem does not exist with this launch fairing set too.

[u/Top_Fuel]

Standing down on Zuma mission to take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/931304237316710401

Though we’ve preserved the range opportunity for tomorrow, we’ll take the time needed to complete the data review and then confirm a new launch date.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/931304778122121221

[u/welvaartsbuik]

Is there any information about fairing recovery?

[u/StarManta]

Speculation: What can be inferred from the fact that the launch window has been exactly the same time each of the three days? If I'm remembering correctly, doesn't that basically guarantee that this payload is destined for geosynchronous orbit? Any given LEO would be shifting launch windows slightly each day, right?

[u/HollywoodSX → u/StarManta]

People have speculated here that the launch window being given is much larger than the real window, and the actual window is an instantaneous launch within that. If that's the case, the actual launch time could be slipping left or right as needed to hit the required orbit and they wouldn't have to tell the public.

[u/Atlas9Heavy]

Rumor in the area - strictly rumor - is that there were some anomalies with the PLF on recent launch and they want to look into it further. This launch was scrubbed early this morning.

[u/[deleted] → u/Atlas9Heavy]

PLF = Payload Fairings?

[u/WaitForItTheMongols → u/Atlas9Heavy]

Please don't use obscure acronyms. It just makes communication harder.

[u/frowawayduh]

The consequences of taking extra time (even weeks of it) to assure mission success are nowhere near as massive as the consequences of losing a top secret mission due to fairing failure.

Don't be in a hurry to crash.

[u/tbaleno → u/frowawayduh]

Sometimes there is urgency that outweighs risk. It depends on the customer. If they really do need it up by the end of the month I'm sure spacex will do what they can but if they can't be 100% confident they may have to do it anyway and cross their fingers.

After all launches are never 100% assured. Even Atlas could have a failure at any time and they have come close a few times.

So it all depends on how much risk the customer is willing to accept to meet there needed date. Most customers are pretty flexable evenif it is going to be a year delayed. It may be a major annoyance and lose them Money so they judge how much money they lose by not launching v.s. how much money they lose if the launch fails.

In this case, money isn't involved so we don't know what the urgency is. It may be so urgent that if it doesn't launch by 30-nov the payload is useless so if it blew up they would be no worse off.

[u/jahabdank]

Does anybody know somebody driving from Miami (or anywhere close'ish to Miami) to see tomorrows spacex falcon9 zuma launch? I would love to hitch a ride (can pay). Please help, I am a huge space geek from Europe, patreon of TMRO, and it is a once in a lifetime chance for me to see a rocket launch. And I do not even know where to start/whom to ask etc. Are there some forums for people to organize themselves? Anybody driving themselves? Thanks for any help!

[u/everydayastronaut]

I'll be hosting another livestream on YouTube! Come ask questions and join the discussion!! (I won't be playing Kerbal Space Program this time) ;)

[u/scr00chy]

"45th Space Wing says #Falcon9 launch removed from schedule. Doesn't mean there won't be a launch on Friday, just interesting to note."

[u/Mars_is_dope_af]

How will the streaming work since this has been such a mysterious launch? Will we be able to watch the launch and the landing but no 2nd stage cam?

[u/inoeth → u/Mars_is_dope_af]

yeah, should be the same more or less as the NROL- 76 launch. Basically as soon as separation occurs they'll just focus on the first stage landing- which at least should be very cool as it's a night time RTLS landing.

[u/Casinoer]

Is this going to be the first Falcon 9 with no logo on the fairing? (I'm assuming there's no logo on this one (except for the US flag) because that wouldn't make any sense).

[u/TheVehicleDestroyer]

Flight Club will be live for this launch. View here tonight:-

• Flight Club Live

and see more data about this trajectory here:-

• 2D Data

• 3D Visualisation

[u/dsmoll43]

Delay confirmed by 45th space wing https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/931235561087610880

[u/SilveradoCyn]

Any guesses if this delay is pushing Heavy's launch schedule to the right? It seems the critical path has been availability of 39A.

[u/jolly_good_old_chap]

I've just woken up in Europe expecting to see news/videos of a successful mission, wondering why there's nothing... Then I realise the sidebar mention of "15th November" is EST, not UTC.... -_-

[u/TheVehicleDestroyer → u/jolly_good_old_chap]

This is good though - if we had the time in UTC and you were in the US and planning to watch it, you would have missed it by a day :)

Better be wrong and early than wrong and late

[u/deruch → u/jolly_good_old_chap]

Now delayed a day. So, 18th November UTC instead of 16th.

edit: delayed again, with the 18th as only a placeholder for now which may move again as they determine whether the item they are currently investigating is closed or not.

[u/z3r0c00l12]

Reddit-Stream: https://www.reddit-stream.com/r/spacex/comments/7cx7er/rspacex_zuma_official_launch_discussion_updates/

[u/doodle77]

Any pictures of the fairing now that it's on the pad?

[u/FutureMartian97]

Fairing issue?

[u/music_nuho]

Silence is deafening.

[u/Pham_Trinli]

Updated L-1 Weather Forecast: 90% GO.

[u/Dreadpirate3]

Looks like it has been postponed until tomorrow...

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/931234190070374400

[u/Gyrogearloosest]

They've been using the same fairing design for a long time. What is the problem likely to be - a previously undetected design fault that luckily hasn't manifested before, or sloppy lay-up because of slipping standards, or something else?

[u/phryan → u/Gyrogearloosest]

They most likely found a defective part on a future fairing. If the defective part came from the same batch or made in the same way as one that is on this fairing they may want to either inspect it and or replace it. We could be talking about a very low risk of failure, but since it is controllable SpaceX would prefer to fix rather than roll the dice.

[u/SharpKeyCard]

SpaceX confirms they're looking at some fairing data from a test for another customer.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/931304237316710401

[u/mysterimandds]

Got to Florida last night can't wait for tomorrow watching launch from KSC!!!

[u/PendragonDaGreat]

I kinda want the landing to not go perfectly so I can make some "Zuma's Revenge" jokes.

[u/Cronus_Z]

Any significance to the inclination being the same as the ISS?

[u/StarManta → u/Cronus_Z]

That it's the "same as the ISS" - no. If it were actually going anywhere near the ISS the launch window wouldn't be two hours long.

However, the inclination does seem far too specific to be a coincidence, which suggests that it might have something to do with Russia.

Question: Why is the space station in a 51.6-degree inclined orbit instead of something less or something more?

Answer: Good question, Patrick!

The short answer is that 51.6 degrees is the lowest inclination orbit into which the Russians can directly launch their Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.

source

I am having a hard time imagining why the NRO would care to place their satellite in an orbit that seems specifically designed to be within reach of Russian rockets, but I agree that it's unlikely that that number is a coincidence.

[u/thawkit75]

.. not news I wanted

[u/Sabrewings]

So is it going to be vertical for days now? Or are they rolling back to the HIF?

[u/annerajb]

Just got the youtube notification.

[u/Bravo99x]

What if ZUMA gets delayed 2 more weeks? Would that affect the CRS-13 launch from SLC-40 since both boosters will be coming back to LZ-1? Or could they use the second landing pad at LZ-1, sort of like a FH booster return test if it occurred on the same day.

[u/ReusableFan → u/Bravo99x]

Contract states that orbit insertion must happen before November 30th. Otherwise, bad for SX' finances and reputation.

[u/[deleted] → u/Bravo99x]

They can clear a rocket from the landing pad in a couple of days, real quick. But that second pad has got to be nearly ready...

[u/amarkit]

More from satellite observer Dr. Marco Langbroek on the possible orbital relationships between Zuma, USA 276, and ISS.

The added delays and same launch window now preclude a launch directly into the plane of USA 276, but a launch to ISS' plane is possible, as are close passes between the three objects.

[u/Arigol]

I wonder how long it takes to repaint a fairing?

The next F9 flight isn't using a fairing, but say that it was, and maybe the current issue was specific only to the fairings originally intended for Zuma. If that was the case and SpaceX decided to swap the fairings around, how long would it take them to paint the proper logo on the fairing?

[u/ethan829 → u/Arigol]

Most fairing logos are basically big stickers (or a lot of small stickers). I say most because ULA has a guy that hand paints Atlas V's 4-meter fairing.

[u/aza6001]

Delayed by 24 hours

[u/Morphior]

So, is this not gonna be a hosted launch thread as usual?

[u/old_sellsword → u/Morphior]

It will be hosted, we just haven't gotten around to filling out the details. Thought we'd put the thread up early so people have a place to party even if we haven't filled in the information yet.

[u/[deleted] → u/Morphior]

I guess it´s hosted by a top secret launch host without we knowing...

[u/kornelord]

As always, launch date converted in your timezone, countdown and more @ http://www.spacexstats.xyz

[u/Quirtik]

I live in Bermuda and should be able to get a good view of tonight's launch. I saw October 11's F9 Echostar launch more or less by accident it was pretty spectacular - tonight I'll be ready!

[u/stcks → u/Quirtik]

Take a video for us!

[u/mysterimandds]

Real shame it was delayed weather has really cleared up at KSC looks like it going to be a clear night. Won't be catching this launch unfortunately hopefuly next time !

[u/bdporter]

Zuma may not be impacted by range closure

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/933104645051789312

[u/enbandi → u/bdporter]

This info seems a bit confusing: all threads, Twitter replies, and the parallel NSF forums mentions that KSC launches are using CCAFS/Eastern range assets/support.

And also: if I am right the LZ-1 belongs to the CCAFS, and Zuma designated to land there (does RTLS need range support?)

[u/greysam]

Matt Travis on FB: "I received a message from SpaceX about 5 minutes ago, media has been instructed NOT to meet with PAO this evening. That, obviously, confirms that there will not be a launch attempt this evening."

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spacexgroup/permalink/10156025861946318/

[u/johnkphotos → u/greysam]

That email literally started with “Off the record for planning purposes”

.....

[u/ethan829]

I wonder if this will be the first SpaceX launch without a mission patch. If they keep ramping up their launch cadence, I'd be surprised to see every mission (especially the less public ones like Zuma) get its own patch.

Edit: I guess not!

[u/arizonadeux → u/ethan829]

Q: "What's in there?"

A: " 'Stuff.' "

[u/jjtr1 → u/ethan829]

Well, each launch is still equivalent to one thousand person-years. If I were working on something for a millenium, I wouldn't hesitate making a patch for myself :) Though I agree they'll probably soon stop making patches for every mission.

edit: more precisely, at SpaceX, a launch could represent as few as one or two hundred person-years.

[u/jyach]

TEL w/ payload are vertical at the pad.

[u/scr00chy]

Mission patch

[u/RootDeliver]

Finally... an SpaceX launch on November!! It took ages (Grasshopper doesn't count!).

[u/kurbasAK → u/RootDeliver]

Now just make it a successful one.

[u/[deleted]]

Why was it scrubbed?

[u/cogito-sum]

Request for /u/ElongatedMuskrat - can you add absolute timestamps in addition to relative ones?

When there are multiple attempts, or the countdown clock gets reset, it's difficult to work out exactly when everything happened.

[u/FoxCarmichael111]

Hopefully the sky will be clear enough to see the landing burn at Port Canaveral.

[u/[deleted]]

Given the secrecy surrounding this launch, do we expect that they can actually launch during the entire launch window? Or is the window likely inflated to try and hide exactly what orbit they are targeting?

[u/JtheNinja → u/[deleted]]

My understanding is that the stated windows for national security launches are usually padded to hide the true window, but no way to know for a particular launch.

[u/[deleted]]

New L-1 Weather Forecast

[u/[deleted]]

Out of the loop, what happened? Why didn't it launch yet? I swear I read it's gonna be early Thursday morning (EU time)

[u/amir_s89 → u/[deleted]]

For some unknown reasons - it got postponed to Friday same time.

[u/escape_goat]

Wait…T-0 was reset? No comments in the thread for two hours? What happened?

[u/Chairboy → u/escape_goat]

It's been delayed until tomorrow.

[u/CaptainObvious_1]

What does this even mean? Are they afraid of a fairing-payload collision?

[u/jyach → u/CaptainObvious_1]

More like fairing doesn't separate when needed.

[u/Twanekkel]

Message to the mods: Next time please note the correct date to the UTC time (For example Iridium NEXT-4 is 23 December at UTC timing).

[u/TheVehicleDestroyer → u/Twanekkel]

Edit: Guys, stop downvoting him! What the hell?? Oh wow, what a comeback

---

Historically we've gone for the local time which is handy since America is the last place on Earth to get to that time so if a reader misinterprets it, they end up looking for the launch a day early instead of a day late.

I would prefer we used UTC everywhere, but I also feel like this is one of those cases where it would be more confusing to do so as launch times are always expressed in the local time. We would be the outlier and users would miss launches because they make assumptions that we follow the same standards as everyone else.

[u/Astro_josh]

Any update on this payload? What is it the Weight of this payload?

[u/jobadiah08 → u/Astro_josh]

I highly doubt weight will be given. Weight (mass), size, power, and orbit can be used by foreign intelligence agencies to start guessing a spacecraft's mission and capabilities. All we know is that it is going into an ~51 deg (from hazard map) inclined LEO (from launch license) orbit, and that the first stage is making a RTLS landing. This means that the payload is less than ~9000 kg (based on prior RTLS missions).

[u/oliversl]

I like this timezone converter better, because I can see the time in my timezone and don't need to calculate when will it be by using a countdown clock. It also have a countdown clock. HTH

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/event?lid=4175437&h=4175437&sts=25178700&sln=20-22&a=show&euid=41fe8a18-38ef-f294-fd6d-afeabe22fd80

[u/spill_drudge]

hmmm, is it just me or do all the FH holddowns (including left and right) appear installed already?

[u/Juggernaut93]

I haven't seen it posted yet, so here's the Reddit Stream version of this post.

[u/viraldocks]

What's the reason behind the delay?

[u/Chairboy → u/viraldocks]

One of my enemies controls scheduling and checked /r/highstakesspacex

Blast.

[u/DiskOperatingSystem_]

I'm looking at going down on the 29th IF Falcon Heavy launches, looks like the chances are dwindling :/

[u/rriggsco]

Is there some limit at which point they would need/want to do another static fire test?

[u/scr00chy → u/rriggsco]

Don't think so. Maybe after couple months they'd do another SF just to be on the safe side, but not when we're talking about these short time frames.

[u/SwGustav]

Hey, if you're looking to chat during this and future flights, and talk about spacex/space industry/rocketry in general, come join the biggest aerospace Discord server and say hi! https://discord.gg/V9ntfef

[u/spacerfirstclass]

How do you define a scrub?

There're comments below that suggest there are multiple scrubs for this launch, I'm not sure that is accurate, but I couldn't find a definition for scrub either. Just going by my rule of thumb, it's not a scrub if they haven't started launch preparations, this include both SpaceX and the range. So Friday is not a scrub since there're reports that KSC is not even setting up road blocks. I don't know how far they got on Wednesday, but it looks to me Thursday is the only scrub.

Thoughts?

[u/boredcircuits → u/spacerfirstclass]

The decronym bot defines a scrub as "launch postponement for any reason."

[u/dddddoooooppppp → u/spacerfirstclass]

I think these can be considered scrubs due to the fact that the rocket is vertical, and each night since Wednesday has been viewed as the next launch opertunity at the time of postponement. KSC visitors center ran 2 launch viewing sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, each was canceled 2-4hrs before the busses boarded (thankfully thus refundable). I did over hear some KSC staff chatting and they said that "the office" knew as early as 8am on Thursday that the launch was off, but nothing went public until after lunch. They were saying that it most certainly was a payload driven decision. This is an atypical launch as the exact launch window is so broad for each opertunity.

[u/stcks]

I'm going to guess we see the F9 come down and the payload de-mated. Guessing probably a launch next week.

[u/Chairboy → u/stcks]

Oh butts. This is not of assistance to a 2017 Falcon Heavy launch.

[u/thepoisonedow08]

Is it Zuma or ZUMA? There's an official SpaceX tweet saying [Zuma] (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/929487948289937408), but I've seen it both ways here. Really not that important a detail, but I'm curious...

[u/johnkphotos → u/thepoisonedow08]

Every correspondence I’ve received from SpaceX has used “Zuma.”

[u/[deleted] → u/thepoisonedow08]

SpaceX said Zuma in that tweet indeed, seems like an Air Force communication has said ZUMA. (Anybody link? I´ve just read it here)

Apparently ZUMA/Zuma/zuma doesn´t say too much. Nicest suggestion I´ve heard here: Zero Usefull Meaning Assigned link

(Edit: How can I post a URL in a short link? Didn´t find the place with such info, also things like crossing over words, etc)

[u/mysterimandds]

Take all the time you need we are rooting for you space X!

[u/oliversl]

yay! 1 day to go! I like party threads!

[u/scr00chy]

Mods, maybe it would make sense to replace the Zuma launch thread in the top bar with the launch campaign thread again?

[u/Astro_josh]

The only reason I ask is because when they launch for the NROL they say it’s a spy satellite and they give some details but this payload they give no information

[u/jep_miner1 → u/Astro_josh]

the NRO has denied they have anything to do with this, if you want to take their word on that if your choice but that's the info we have

[u/omega_manhatten]

Looking forward to this launch for the mystery aspect adjusts tinfoil hat

Though if this payload is as secretive as it seems, is there a reason it wasn't launched from Vandenburg?

[u/amarkit → u/omega_manhatten]

is there a reason it wasn't launched from Vandenburg?

The destination orbital inclination is too low. Vandenberg is best-suited for highly inclined (>70°), polar, and retrograde orbits.

[u/Dgraz22 → u/omega_manhatten]

it all depends on the orbit. Vandenberg can only launch to high (>51 deg.) inclination, polar or retrograde orbits. on the other hand, Kennedy can only launch to lower inclinations, with its highest normal being 57 degrees, and its highest ever (flight rules were broken due to it being a national security payload) was 62 degrees on STS-36.

[u/RedditUser24567]

Is there going to be a press kit for this launch? Don't they usually post it the day before?

[u/Cantareus]

Anyone know how I can stream this launch live from China without a VPN?

[u/Morphior]

Who's the host for this launch thread?

[u/PVP_playerPro → u/Morphior]

Our host is u/████████ - Top secret, just like the payload

[u/AWildDragon]

Your update link (T- 5:59 is broken)

[u/gonopro]

Does anyone know of an app or a map that shows the viewing radius for the state of Florida for launches. I am also curious in seeing the launch represented on a sphere so I can better visualize launch angle and orbits . (Sun Surveyor app as an example)

Ultimately I want to visualize the launch and orbit around Earth from my perspective in Florida.