The South African rand is soaring on news President Jacob Zuma has resigned

Kevin Hagen/Getty Images South African President Jacob Zuma resigned on Tuesday night. In response, the rand hit its highest level in close to three years. The USD/ZAR currently trades 11.7062, down from a high of 14.5725 just two months ago. The South African rand just hit its highest level in close to three years, helped by […]

SpaceX gets good news from the Air Force on the Zuma mission

Enlarge / The launch of Zuma was pretty, but the aftermath has been anything but. (credit: SpaceX) A little more than two weeks have passed since the apparent loss of the highly classified Zuma mission. Since then, SpaceX has publicly and privately stated that its Falcon 9 rocket performed nominally throughout the flight—with both its […]

The Zuma failure has emboldened critics of SpaceX

Enlarge / The Zuma mission launched on Jan. 7 from Florida. (credit: SpaceX) The space community has not learned much about the apparent loss of the Zuma payload launched by SpaceX on January 7, but the mystery has had one clear after effect: critics of SpaceX, including several far-right publications, have weaponized the failure of […]

Pentagon: Ask SpaceX about Zuma. SpaceX: That’s not our story to tell.

Enlarge / The launch of Zuma was pretty, but the aftermath has been anything but. (credit: SpaceX) On Wednesday, during a Pentagon briefing, spokeswoman Dana White was asked whether the US Department of Defense considered the Zuma mission—a high-value, highly secretive US government payload—a success or a failure. White declined substantive comment, saying, “I would […]

What we know, and what we don’t about the secretive Zuma payload

SpaceX On Sunday night, SpaceX launched a classified payload known only as “Zuma” for the US government. But once in space, something went wrong. Here’s what we know so far. What is Zuma? It was a government satellite or spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman, which contracted with SpaceX to launch it into low-Earth orbit. By […]

Lost in space? Secret SpaceX Zuma satellite a total loss – reports

Published time: 9 Jan, 2018 03:45 Edited time: 9 Jan, 2018 03:52 The highly classified and expensive government satellite launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral has reportedly been destroyed. SpaceX isn’t commenting on the allegedly failed mission, however. Despite the launch being shrouded in secrecy, SpaceX seemed to have successfully carried […]

The Zuma satellite launched by SpaceX may be lost, sources tell Ars

Enlarge / The Zuma satellite and Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad. (credit: SpaceX) On Sunday night SpaceX launched the Zuma satellite into space. What we know for sure is that the first stage of the rocket behaved nominally enough such that it was able to safely return to Earth, and make a land-based […]

SpaceX launches secret Zuma mission aboard Falcon 9 rocket

Published time: 8 Jan, 2018 01:45 SpaceX successfully launched the mysterious Zuma spacecraft at 8.00pm EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida after numerous delays. The Falcon 9 rocket will now deliver the satellite into orbit. After delivering Zuma to space, the rocket will return to earth to land back at Cape Canaveral. […]

SpaceX’s mysterious Zuma mission may finally take flight Sunday

Enlarge / The Falcon 9 rocket and its Zuma payload are seen on the launch pad in November. (credit: SpaceX) Originally planned for a November launch, the mysterious Zuma mission may finally go to space on Sunday evening. SpaceX has confirmed that its rocket, and the undisclosed national security payload, are ready for launch, and […]