Elon Musk’s SpaceX is gearing up to launch the highly secretive Zuma satellite – a mysterious payload commissioned by an undisclosed branch of the US government.
Zuma was initially slated to launch in November but is now set to take off this Friday, January 5 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral
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per SpaceX, from its Pad 40 launch facility between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT.
So far, a weather report shows conditions will be ‘excellent’ for lift-off at the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida, The company says.
It is unknown what Zuma’s target orbit besides that it’ll be somewhere in low Earth orbit. It’s also unclear what will it do once it’s in space. The satellite and its mission are veiled in mystery as no commercial or government entity has claimed it.
According to Sky News, it would orbit within the boundaries necessary for spy and military communication satellites,
The National Reconnaissance Office, the unit responsible for spy satellites, says payloads launches via SpaceX, but it keeps the details classified.
The Zuma mission shows similarity to the launch of PAN satellite in 2009 and CLIO in 2014.
Both two were also top-secret. PAN was used by the National Security Agency to spy on the Middle East, according to documents obtained by The Intercept.
