[dynoman]

Must feel great to make a 3.5 billion dollar mistake!

[pepsi_junkie]

Zuma is believed to have cost around $3.5 billion to develop, according to the report. The satellite was funded through a process that received a lesser degree of oversight from Congress compared with similar national security-related satellites, industry officials said.

I am sure this is true because when people use black accounts to fund top secret projects, when something goes wrong they would immediately run to the press to explain that they used black accounts to fund the top secret project that just went wrong. Obviously.

[subterfuge]

Not surprised. Northrop is a petri dish of affirmative action and political correctness. They don’t hide it.

[PIF]

Despite this piece, there is still no proof one way or another that the Zima actually did not make orbit. There are more than one examples of spoofing to hide actual satellites - some according to an article immediately after separation changed orbit drastically.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I guess Elon Musk is going to save a ton of $$$ on his insurance policy.

[minnesota_bound]

The Big Bang Theory - Howard builds a Shelf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPDG7EdZowg

[rednesss]

$3.5 BILLION, for a satellite, was it made out of pure platinum and diamonds??? Who approves this shit??

[SunTzuWu]

...believed to have cost around $3.5 billion to develop...

There is a difference between "cost to develop" and "cost to build". Development means the cost of the R&D as well as the cost to build the first model. Subsequent models are far, far cheaper to build.