Author Topic: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION  (Read 786510 times)

Online saliva_sweet

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #40 on: 10/14/2017 06:35 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Offline rockets4life97

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #41 on: 10/14/2017 06:41 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Lots of potential revenue for who? SpaceX? The satellite constellation operator (e.g. Boeing as was speculated up thread)?

ZUMA looks and sounds like an acronym.

Online Chris Bergin

I don't know what this satellite is, but I have seen it called Zuma (not capitals - but could easily be ZUMA as in Z.U.M.A - honestly do not know). So it is a mystery payload, but for the purpose of this thread we can call it codename Zuma.

It is supposed to be riding on a new booster.
« Last Edit: 10/14/2017 07:09 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline docmordrid

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #43 on: 10/14/2017 07:14 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Lots of potential revenue for who? SpaceX? The satellite constellation operator (e.g. Boeing as was speculated up thread)?

ZUMA looks and sounds like an acronym.

ZUMA is a photojournalism news service. Unlikely, but there it is.
DM

Offline schaban

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #44 on: 10/14/2017 07:33 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Lots of potential revenue for who? SpaceX? The satellite constellation operator (e.g. Boeing as was speculated up thread)?

ZUMA looks and sounds like an acronym.

ZUMA is a photojournalism news service. Unlikely, but there it is.

it is also primitive "shooter in space" game. for what it worth...

Offline rockets4life97

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #45 on: 10/14/2017 08:02 pm »
Zuma isn't in the m-w dictionary. Zuma Press (the photojournalism company) says that Zuma is Mayan for new day, new solution, new vision. Z

The reddit user ASTRALsunder had another comment where they suggested it might not be a satellite.

Possibly some commercial or stunt like the Toshiba Space Chair advertisement where a weather balloon took a chair up near space?


Offline Barrie

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #46 on: 10/14/2017 08:17 pm »
Zuma isn't in the m-w dictionary. Zuma Press (the photojournalism company) says that Zuma is Mayan for new day, new solution, new vision. Z

The reddit user ASTRALsunder had another comment where they suggested it might not be a satellite.

Possibly some commercial or stunt like the Toshiba Space Chair advertisement where a weather balloon took a chair up near space?

I believe the Toshiba Space Chair was done by JP Aerospace.

Zuma might be a jokey distortion of 'zoomer', which could be something to do with either propulsion or imaging.  HTH  ::)

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #47 on: 10/14/2017 09:23 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Lots of potential revenue for who? SpaceX? The satellite constellation operator (e.g. Boeing as was speculated up thread)?

ZUMA looks and sounds like an acronym.

Perhaps something like the ominous PAN and CLIO (non)acronyms, which turned out as NEMESIS SIGINT sats.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nemesis-1.htm
 

Offline Nibb31

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #48 on: 10/14/2017 09:31 pm »
Given the weird codename, it makes sense that this could be Nemesis 3.
« Last Edit: 10/14/2017 09:33 pm by Nibb31 »

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #49 on: 10/14/2017 09:47 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

Fact? Right?

Lots of potential revenue for who? SpaceX? The satellite constellation operator (e.g. Boeing as was speculated up thread)?

ZUMA looks and sounds like an acronym.

Perhaps something like the ominous PAN and CLIO (non)acronyms, which turned out as NEMESIS SIGINT sats.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nemesis-1.htm
 
Did those ever have a 4 number mission designation because some other government payloads did until a public name surfaced.

Offline gosnold

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #50 on: 10/14/2017 09:48 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

If that's true, we can exclude a classified payload. Their names don't leak like that. It could be an unclassified US military payload, or a commercial payload for a secretive customer (foreign government or commercial).
« Last Edit: 10/14/2017 09:48 pm by gosnold »

Offline Ben the Space Brit

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #51 on: 10/14/2017 09:56 pm »
Wild guess: Launch of some kind of destination spacecraft test vehicle for LEO space tourism not involving the ISS.

Any unusual activity at Bigelow recently? Closed hangers and 'none of your business' replies about any projects?
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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #52 on: 10/14/2017 09:58 pm »
My hypothesis is a "Nemesis 3":
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.
Fact? Right?
Perhaps something like the ominous PAN and CLIO (non)acronyms, which turned out as NEMESIS SIGINT sats.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nemesis-1.htm

Using a Boeing 702SP bus, instead of the Lockheed-Martin A2100A:
I'm thinking if there are any light geostationary comsats (say 2 to 3.5 tonnes) around that had never had a launch contract announced, or even without their identities known, that might be launching by now.

For example, there was that 3 Boeing 702SP order from the US government in 2013 that cannot be pinned down to any known satellite and was once floated around as a candidate for NROL-76 earlier this year. So far none of them seemed to have been launched yet, and if they are launched on F9 one at a time the 1st stage would have easily made an RTLS.

Four of the five 702SP's thus far launched have done so on a Falcon 9.


EDIT 10/16: Hmm...I'm 0 for 2 on this hypothesis.
« Last Edit: 10/16/2017 10:05 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline Skyrocket

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #53 on: 10/14/2017 10:03 pm »
My hypothesis is a "Nemesis 3":
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.
Fact? Right?
Perhaps something like the ominous PAN and CLIO (non)acronyms, which turned out as NEMESIS SIGINT sats.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nemesis-1.htm

Using a Boeing 702SP bus, instead of the Lockheed-Martin A2100A:
I'm thinking if there are any light geostationary comsats (say 2 to 3.5 tonnes) around that had never had a launch contract announced, or even without their identities known, that might be launching by now.

For example, there was that 3 Boeing 702SP order from the US government in 2013 that cannot be pinned down to any known satellite and was once floated around as a candidate for NROL-76 earlier this year. So far none of them seemed to have been launched yet, and if they are launched on F9 one at a time the 1st stage would have easily made an RTLS.

Four of the five 702SP's thus far launched have done so on a Falcon 9.


The Boeing 702SP busses are IMHO good candidates for further NEMESIS type satellites, as the original NEMESISes were also closely based on commercial busses.

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #54 on: 10/14/2017 10:04 pm »
My hypothesis is a "Nemesis 3":
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.
Fact? Right?
Perhaps something like the ominous PAN and CLIO (non)acronyms, which turned out as NEMESIS SIGINT sats.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nemesis-1.htm

Using a Boeing 702SP bus, instead of the Lockheed-Martin A2100A:
I'm thinking if there are any light geostationary comsats (say 2 to 3.5 tonnes) around that had never had a launch contract announced, or even without their identities known, that might be launching by now.

For example, there was that 3 Boeing 702SP order from the US government in 2013 that cannot be pinned down to any known satellite and was once floated around as a candidate for NROL-76 earlier this year. So far none of them seemed to have been launched yet, and if they are launched on F9 one at a time the 1st stage would have easily made an RTLS.

Four of the five 702SP's thus far launched have done so on a Falcon 9.

LM A2100A and all other A2100 versions are currently being phased out in favor of a single common and standardized large LM-2100 bus for both Commercial, Civil and Military missions with mission add on kits to add features that were previously a specific A2100 version.

Offline Craig_VG

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #55 on: 10/14/2017 10:05 pm »
My hypothesis is a "Nemesis 3":

It being a US Gov sat seems to contradict the statement by /u/ASTRALsunder saying that the operator has revenue targets to hit and shareholders to please:

"Yup, critical for the operator in this case. They have revenue targets to hit and shareholders to keep happy."
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/76c3gw/spacex_has_an_approved_license_for_10_nov_launch/doda2gm/
« Last Edit: 10/14/2017 10:16 pm by Craig_VG »

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #56 on: 10/14/2017 10:20 pm »
Nov 10th going to be a busy space coverage day with JPSS-1 at VAFB, Cygnus Spacecraft OA-8 on Wallops on the same date.
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #57 on: 10/14/2017 10:21 pm »
My hypothesis is a "Nemesis 3":

Saying it's a US Gov sat seems to contradict the statement by /u/ASTRALsunder saying that the operator has revenue targets to hit and shareholders to please:

"Yup, critical for the operator in this case. They have revenue targets to hit and shareholders to keep happy."
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/76c3gw/spacex_has_an_approved_license_for_10_nov_launch/doda2gm/
That is why we are hypothesizing. Nemesis payloads acted like Commercial Sats and for all we know it could be a hosted payload. Trusting what a single openly talking person says when others are very tight lipped then that makes me suspicious of what they are saying. Posters in L2 say that we will know more in the future so I'm going to stick with the trusted information from the posters in L2 until further notice rather than trusting a very random person on reddit.
« Last Edit: 10/14/2017 10:22 pm by russianhalo117 »

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #58 on: 10/14/2017 10:24 pm »
Nov 10th going to be a busy space coverage day with JPSS-1 at VAFB, Cygnus Spacecraft OA-8 on Wallops on the same date.

The guy on Reddit said this one is currently targeting the 15th.

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Re: SpaceX F9 : Zuma : January 7/8, 2018, CCAFS : DISCUSSION
« Reply #59 on: 10/14/2017 10:26 pm »
Quote from: reddit user ASTRALsunder
My sources tell me the flight is named ZUMA. The flight is extremely critical because a successful one would mean lots of potential future revenue. Launch date is slated for November 15th due to slight slip in testing.

If that's true, we can exclude a classified payload. Their names don't leak like that. It could be an unclassified US military payload, or a commercial payload for a secretive customer (foreign government or commercial).

The name PAN leaked, or was released, a few months before launch.  The earliest reference I found is the SFN article  Secret PAN satellite leads Cape milspace launch surge, dated May 26, 2009, by Craig Covault.  The launch was then scheduled for July 17, 2009.

(Launched on September 8, 2009)

NSF launch thread: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=16909.0

If there are meant to be a series of such satellites, including the 3 Government-bought Boeing 702SPs, that could be the source of "future revenue."


EDIT 10/16: I did a little better on this comparison...
« Last Edit: 10/16/2017 10:07 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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