I'm afraid we are operating in a vacuum when it comes to information about the Zuma spacecraft.
Adding to the intrigue surrounding Zuma: Reports that Musk has told his team that this is the company's most important/expensive payload ever launched.
NG used their own payload processing facilities as well as their own designed stage/bus adapter. I wonder if that was something SpaceX advised against? Or was uncomfortable with for any reason?
I suppose we have to wait to see if any new orbital objects get reported over the next few weeks. Then we'll have more data as to whether the spacecraft reached orbit.One scenario I can think of is that Zuma suffered a MMOD collision at some point post-PLF separation and was disabled. As there is no link between the Falcon 9 and its payload in these types of missions, unless properly-cleared technicians at Hawthorne were monitoring footage from the prow camera on the upper stage, there would not necessarily any data SpaceX would have regarding the problem. All NG would know is that the spacecraft never signalled them post-separation.
QuoteAdding to the intrigue surrounding Zuma: Reports that Musk has told his team that this is the company's most important/expensive payload ever launched.https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/950490705507569666
Could the payload have been a hypersonic reentry vehicle?
Hypersonic tests have a history of being short and not-entirely-successful.But previously they've been smaller scale payloads on smaller rockets, often air-launched, and not nearly as secretive as Zuma.