The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket landing succeeds but SpaceX destroys the secret Zuma satellite

This is the second billion-dollar satellite that SpaceX destroyed in its missile launch mission.

Opened in early 2018, SpaceX succeeded in launching Falcon 9 missiles and landing back to Earth. The Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral, Florida base at 8 pm on Sunday (local time). However, SpaceX's mission this time is an embarrassing failure.

During this launch, SpaceX was given the task of bringing a special item to Earth's orbit. It was a top secret satellite of the US military, called Zuma . According to the report, Zuma satellite was not put into orbit and destroyed in SpaceX's Falcon 9 missile launch.

Zuma satellites were not put into orbit and destroyed in SpaceX's Falcon 9 missile launch.

The Wall Street Journal report said that when the Falcon 9 rocket split in the second phase, the Zuma satellite was attached to the component and was unable to separate it as planned. Therefore, the Zuma satellite is thought to have fallen back to the Earth atmosphere with the second phase of the Falcon 9 rocket and was completely destroyed.

The Falcon 9 missile consists of two stages, when reaching a certain height, the second stage rocket will be separated from the main part of the rocket (first stage) and free fall into the atmosphere. , burn yourself. Under the plan, this is when Zuma satellite will be separated from phase 2 and fly into Earth orbit. Once completed, the first stage of Falcon 9 returns and lands on Earth.

Due to the confidential nature of this mission, SpaceX and the US military did not disclose details about the Zuma satellite. We only know that this satellite is codenamed Zuma and can be put on Earth orbit as a spy satellite. The US government chose Northrop Grumman as the producer and developer of the project, Northrop chose SpaceX as a satellite launcher.

Earlier, SpaceX had carried out the launch of the US Air Force X-37B spacecraft and was approved for national security satellite launch missions.

According to WSJ, Zuma satellite can be worth billions of dollars.

Not long ago, SpaceX also failed to launch Facebook's satellite launch mission in September 2016. Facebook's $ 2 billion satellite has been completely destroyed, along with the Falcon 9 rocket. exploded in the air.

The failure of the mission to launch Zuma could cause SpaceX to lose major contracts with the US military to rival Boeing and Lockheed Martin. This is a huge loss for SpaceX and billionaire Elon Musk.