Satellite lost by launcher
From correspondents in Moscow
October 09, 2005
A European satellite dedicated to the study of ice that was to be put into orbit by a Russian launcher overnight has been lost, a senior Russian space official was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency.
The $US170million CryoSat satellite was to have scanned the thickness of polar ice sheets and floating sea ice to an unprecedented accuracy, as part of an effort to understand global warming.
"We suppose that the satellite with its acceleration device fell at the site intended for that purpose, into the Lincoln Sea, near the North Pole," said Lieutenant General Oleg Gromov, deputy commander of the Russian Space Forces.
"The satellite did not go into orbit because of a dysfunction in the final stage... of the second stage of the Rockot launcher," Vyacheslav Davidenko, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency.
The Russian-built Rockot launcher carrying the CryoSat, a 711-kg European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, blasted off at 3pm local time from Russia's north western Plesetsk cosmodrome, and was to have put it in orbit about 90 minutes later.
Earlier the ESA said it feared the satellite had been lost as it had not received a signal from the craft.
CryoSat was the first in a series of six ESA "Earth Explorer" satellites designed to explore key environmental problems.
Link Here
October 09, 2005
A European satellite dedicated to the study of ice that was to be put into orbit by a Russian launcher overnight has been lost, a senior Russian space official was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency.
The $US170million CryoSat satellite was to have scanned the thickness of polar ice sheets and floating sea ice to an unprecedented accuracy, as part of an effort to understand global warming.
"We suppose that the satellite with its acceleration device fell at the site intended for that purpose, into the Lincoln Sea, near the North Pole," said Lieutenant General Oleg Gromov, deputy commander of the Russian Space Forces.
"The satellite did not go into orbit because of a dysfunction in the final stage... of the second stage of the Rockot launcher," Vyacheslav Davidenko, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency.
The Russian-built Rockot launcher carrying the CryoSat, a 711-kg European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, blasted off at 3pm local time from Russia's north western Plesetsk cosmodrome, and was to have put it in orbit about 90 minutes later.
Earlier the ESA said it feared the satellite had been lost as it had not received a signal from the craft.
CryoSat was the first in a series of six ESA "Earth Explorer" satellites designed to explore key environmental problems.
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 2:27 PM
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