Fergie's Tech Blog

Rocket Error Dooms Launch of European Ice-Watching Satellite

Stephen Clark writes on Space.com:

A new satellite to help provide insight into one of the more controversial environmental issues being faced today failed to reach orbit to begin its mission to monitor crucial changes in Earth's polar ice caps because its rocket booster's flight computer had a missing command.

Cryosat lifted off at 1502 GMT (11:02 a.m. EDT) Saturday aboard a Rockot vehicle originating from the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome located in the nation's far north. The joint European-Russian Eurockot firm provided the launcher, which is largely derived from the Russian SS-19 missile used by military forces.

However, problems arose before the rocket reached its target altitude for deployment of Cryosat, and the $170 million satellite fell into the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole before completing its first orbit of Earth.

"Preliminary analysis of the telemetry data indicates that the first stage performed nominally. The second stage performed nominally until main engine cut-off was to occur. Due to a missing command from the onboard flight control system the main engine continued to operate until depletion of the remaining fuel," the satellite's owner, the European Space Agency, said in a statement announcing the launch failure.

posted by Fergie @ 10/09/2005 12:00:00 PM