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Re:SpaceX says its rocket performed exactly as intended in Z... by rst on Tuesday January 09, 2018 @01:11PM (#16108271)
For most launches, it would be SpaceX's job to demate the payload from their stage -- but not for this one. Unusually (per coverage from Ars and others), the hardware that mated the payload to the rocket was supplied by the customer of record, Northrup/Grumman, not SpaceX -- so if it failed, SpaceX can't really be blamed for that.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/what-we-know-and-wha...

Re:SpaceX says its rocket performed exactly as intended in Z... by mechatronix00 on Tuesday January 09, 2018 @03:01PM (#16109408)
Don’t forget about failure modes driven by out of spec loads, vibration, shock, acoustics, and thermal environments. A launch vehicle can experience higher than expected environments and can transmit those to the satellite or adapter, causing a separation or satellite failure. I’m not saying this happened but its usually a complicated post flight analysis that takes some time.