Space In General

LMSCorvetteGT2
It's up there, from the evidence known so far...I'd be more inclined to believe it was a complete success and not a failure. And by complete I mean that not only did Space X supply the job they said they would and do it with flying colors, but that the payload detached and the leaked info by unknown personnel behind it was part of the cover story for a clandestine operation that the government wants to make sure is never followed.
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An attractive idea, which I tend to agree with. But as you hint, we may never know for sure.
Some possibilities:
- It's stealthy, so it's hard to observe.
- It's maneuverable, so it can approach other satellites for repair or sabotage.
- Maybe it can rendezvous with ISS or other vessels in space such as X-37B, etc.
- Maybe it has enough fuel to substantially alter its orbit. Maybe it can even be refueled while in orbit.
- It has wings or can land to deliver stuff back to Earth. Or drop a pod to accomplish the same idea.
- Perhaps it carries missiles, bombs or laser weaponry, which is likely a violation of some space treaty or other.
- A nuclear power supply is also a possibility.
 
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wfooshee
Or it just freaking crashed after failing to separate cleanly...
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The problem with that is it was tracked and did a single orbit around the Earth at least and was recorded. Was seen doing a clean burn off of the second section over Sudan, and from that it was calculated that at a 51° inclination it was most likely sitting in an orbit of 900 km. If it is still there it can't be seen in the Northern hemisphere or all that easily by amateur satellite trackers due to the daytime. Only a couple outlets have claimed it fell into the Indian Ocean and only seemingly convenient after the photos of the second stage burn off picture.

As I said in my prior post, about Clandestine operations since they do exist and have had strange cover stories, in the past this doesn't seem to be all that far out there. The fact people don't like to entertain the possibility is strange. Let's remember the U.S. government has not made it official that ZUMA failed, this is suggested from unknown "government insiders". Space X's rocket did the operation perfectly well. And it's interesting that Space X has other contractors with launches in the upcoming months and have verified that they will continue forward with Space X and are not worried. To me this is a misdirection of info and the failure seems to be denied by sources that actually have a say at this point, rather than media who ran with a story when people said jump.

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.nl/2018/01/fuel-dump-of-zumas-falcon-9-upper-stage.html
 
Just a random thought that popped into my head, but the Orion spacecraft that NASA did a test flight with, I think, three years ago, has there been anything else on that as of recent? i haven't heard anything about it since, well, that test flight.

Surely, they're still working on it, right?
 
Leadfoot530
Just a random thought that popped into my head, but the Orion spacecraft that NASA did a test flight with, I think, three years ago, has there been anything else on that as of recent? i haven't heard anything about it since, well, that test flight.

Surely, they're still working on it, right?
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They're still working on it. No test flights have happened yet.

Edit: To clarify I am talking about the whole rocket, not just the capsule.
 
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Leadfoot530
Just a random thought that popped into my head, but the Orion spacecraft that NASA did a test flight with, I think, three years ago, has there been anything else on that as of recent? i haven't heard anything about it since, well, that test flight.

Surely, they're still working on it, right?
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NASA is headed back to the moon - at a snail's pace. (sound of slow, distant hammers: tap,tap,tap........tap,tap,tap) :grumpy:

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 at at 7:05 a.m. EST, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Florida.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Orion blazed into the morning sky at 7:05 a.m. EST, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. The Orion crew module splashed down approximately 4.5 hours later in the Pacific Ocean, 600 miles southwest of San Diego.

During the uncrewed test, Orion traveled twice through the Van Allen belt where it experienced high periods of radiation, and reached an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth. Orion also hit speeds of 20,000 mph and weathered temperatures approaching 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it entered Earth’s atmosphere.

Orion will open the space between Earth and Mars for exploration by astronauts. This proving ground will be invaluable for testing capabilities future human Mars missions will need. The spacecraft was tested in space to allow engineers to collect critical data to evaluate its performance and improve its design. The flight tested Orion’s heat shield, avionics, parachutes, computers and key spacecraft separation events, exercising many of the systems critical to the safety of astronauts who will travel in Orion.

On future missions, Orion will launch on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket currently being developed at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. A 70 metric-ton (77 ton) SLS will send Orion to a distant retrograde orbit around the moon on Exploration Mission-1 in the first test of the fully integrated Orion and SLS system.
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Latest news: https://www.space.com/39422-nasa-space-launch-system-orion-update-2018.html

The planned Exploration Mission (EM-1), an uncrewed single loop of the moon, has been delayed from this year to 2019. A conjectured crewed flight, pending developments in the meantime, can't happen until well into the 20's, if even that soon.
 
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Dotini
I think in this case Musk's goals are to launch his own personal car into perpetual orbit around the Sun.
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Isn't the goal an orbit around Mars? And this option is always better than just a bag of bricks or something. This will attract a lot more people this way .
 
R1600Turbo
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What we have here are 27 engines clustered and operating hopefully perfectly. And supposedly they are reusable! If this works, it's a major breakthrough in rocketry. Back in the day, the Russians tried to get a 30 engine cluster moon rocket off the pad, but couldn't.

EDIT:

Ominously, a SpaceX Merlin engine exploded last week at a Texas test facility. It was a Block 5, the next thrust upgrade scheduled for the Merlin engine. Continuous boosts in thrust is one of the reasons SpaceX has been able to realize such amazing gains in performance.

 
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Starman looks to be using the SpaceX suit designed for their astronauts. I wonder if they’ll be doing tests on while out in the black?
 
Postponed to 3:45pm EST thankfully because I couldn't get the live stream to cooperate at work. It's blocked on Chrome and Internet Explorer is being it's usual self. Was able to download Firefox so should be OK now...
 
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That was one of the coolest things to see in quite some time. The Tesla onboard. DON'T PANIC!
 

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