So, rumor is that Zuma failed to work in orbit.

And might have reentered.

So... do we need a 'tesla-roadster' tag?

or maybe, 'elon's-roadster'?

@kimholder No, just silly-payloads

:)

I think we do need a tag.

I actually came here to suggest the same thing.

I like the idea of calling it the "Probester", but...

I think roadster-payload would be a good choice.

ah, yes, something that indicates what it is, for the people who go 'what?'

oh, we've gone with roadster and nonstandard-payload, have we?

we've gone all semantic-web, have we?

Eh, feel free to change if you want.

oh, no, that is more accurate. although - i'm not sure 'roadster' isn't too vague for those-who-don't-know

but then, why would they be using the tag?

yeah, so i talked myself out of that one...

@PearsonArtPhoto it took me a minute to get that. must make coffee.

Probester. Road-star.

I like that too!

Wow, the Zuma payload is really exciting a lot of curiosity...

arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/…

huh... yes, it is suddenly much more interesting to me...

well, if one is launching a secret payload one doesn't want tracked, perhaps there is reason to claim it is lost after having changed its orbit.

Yeah, there's a lot of possibilities being discussed.

One of the interesting things is SECO is reported at 7:15, which is way early for a F9.

Apparently builder provided payload adapter, and F9 S2 is supposed to have properly seperated, which means it is all on the payload.

Separation means that it requested separation.

I'm fairly willing to bet that this is all cloak and dagger stuff, that it is still working, but...

nbcnews.com/id/3077830/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/…

I can't find the source, but I found something claiming Elon stated it was the most expensive and important payload that SpaceX has ever launched.

yeah, that is in the link i put, in the what is zuma section at the top

ha, that nbc article is good. though, i think it's more likely that the russians played along than that they were actually fooled.

'no, of course we aren't tracking that secret satellite. it blew up, remember?'

LOL

The Russians were interesting, so...

'good thing too, because we are about to test our new fusion-powered hover-tank. that satellite might have been able to watch us...'

LOL

Making a bit of progress on Legendary again.

Falcon Heavy static fire might happen tomorrow. nasaspaceflight.com/2018/01/spacex-static-fire-falcon-heavy-1

@PearsonArtPhoto Can;t wait!!!

1-7PM EST window.

Big window. To heck with work I guess. :)

LOL

I doubt it will be livestreamed anyways.

I suspect it won't happen before the middle of the window in any case.

@PearsonArtPhoto I am at 23/50 for Epic still. Oh well.

@PearsonArtPhoto I am sure. But still hopeful!

I think the WDR starts no earlier then 1.

So that would mean, what, 2 hours until they could do a test fire?

Good point. Gotta load 3 times as much fuel/oxidizer.

How long is the normal fueling sequence? It seems like it's a bit over an hour.

Personally I expect that they will run into issues getting enough supercooled fluids to it in time. I expect that will need upgrading. When the first started with supercooling they had all sorts of issues.

I remember.

I suspect they at least thing they have done it right this time, but...

I am sure they think they have it right. Now flow 3 times as much through it and see if it really works. :) I assume they dry ran it somehow once before at least.

In space, everyone grows. But this Japanese astronaut shot up 3½ inches.

“I am a little worried I won’t fit in my seat on the return trip on Soyuz,” Kanai said, though he was probably joking. Each seat liner on the vehicle is customized and molded to the body of each astronaut and taken to the Soyuz to ensure a tight fit during the violent reintroduction to gravity.

After 12:30 in an sound bite the BBC, Chris Hadfield confirms/explains the phenomenon, but calls into question the value of a full 9 centimeters bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172vsp0z0yvtp8