1. Dear Friends & Neighbors,

SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on July 14, 2014 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented by WindermereSun.com)

Falcon 9 Flight 20 historic first stage landing at CCAFS Landing Zone 1 on Dec. 21, 2015 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com)

A Falcon 9 rocket launches with a Dragon spacecraft in tow from Cape Canaveral on Sep. 21, 2014 (presented at WindermereSun.com)

Launch of Falcon 9 carrying ABS 3A and EUTELSAT 115 West B satellites to a supersynchronous transfer orbit, launching from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida in March, 2015 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com)

A Falcon 9 v1.0 launches with a Dragon spacecraft delivering cargo to the ISS in 2012 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com

Flacon 9 Flight 17’s first stage attempting a controlled landing on the Autonomous Drone Ship following the launch of CRS-6 to the ISS in April 2015 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com)

The first ever reflight of an orbital class rocket, by SpaceX in March 2017 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com)

Launch of Falcon 9 carrying CASSIOPE (photo attribution; U.S. Air Force, presented at WindermereSun.com)

Falcon 9 booster tank at the SpaceX factory, 2008 (photo attribution: SpaceX, presented at WindermereSun.com)

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The SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch Zuma, a top-secret U.S. government satellite, between 8:00 pm-10:00 pm EDT Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 (Jan. 7;0100 to 0300 GMT Jan. 8) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, according to Air Force. SpaceX pushed back the launch date from mid-Nov. to Jan. 7. Back in Nov. of 2017, SpaceX communication director John Taylor said, “We have decided to stand down and take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer,”  referring to the nose cone that protects a spacecraft during launch. “Though we have preserved the range opportunity for tomorrow, we will take the time we need to complete the data review and will then confirm a new launch date.”

So Sunday Jan. 7, we will get to see the launch of Zuma atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It’s unclear what Zuma will do once it’s aloft; the satellite and its mission are shrouded in mystery. But we do know  Zuma’s vague destination: somewhere in low-Earth orbit. Contents of the payload has remained a mystery. Security and aerospace company Northrup Grumman is known to be involved in the launch, but details are scarce. Zuma seems to be back on track to launch. SpaceX tweeted yesterday that testing was going well, “Team at the Cape performed a propellant loading test of Falcon 9 on Pad 40 this morning-additional static fire test of the rocket was not necessary. Targeting January 5 launch of Zuma.”

SpaceX has partnered with the U.S. government on a number of occasions:

• launching a National Reconnaissance Office payload in May of 2017
• launching the X-37B space plane for the U.S. Air Force in Sep. of 2017
• sending supplies to the International Space Station on the back of a reused Falcon 9 in Dec. of 2017

Recently, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX’s much anticipated Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a car manufactured by his other company Tesla into  orbit around Mars. He wrote in his Instagram in Dec. that the red Tesla Roadster (for the Red Planet test flights) will play Space Oddity by David Bowie as it spins around Mars for a billion years elliptic Mars orbit. Here is a video of Falcon Heavy-Flight Animation, below:

We Need Fair Value of Solar

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Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:

www.sunisthefuture.net

www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture

www.facebook.com/sunisthefuture

www.pinterest.com/sunisthefuture

www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture

www.cafepress.com/sunisthefuture

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