NASA’s US$280 Million Satellite Destroyed
Satellite to monitor global warming comes crashing down to earth minutes after launch
Posted 25.02.2020 at 11:26 am
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NASA would probably have been hoping for something like this instead...:
NASA has faced another significant set back after its US$280 million satellite came crashing back down to earth mere minutes after launching. The satellite, developed to monitor global warming, got a taste of its own medicine when it crash-landed in the rising Antarctic waters. Officials have blamed an equipment malfunction.
The satellite launched on a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA had hoped to monitor carbon dioxide with the satellite in an effort to match the Japanese who launched the world’s first satellite to measure global warming last month.
Sadly for NASA, the nose cone of the rocket that was protecting the satellite failed to detach as it should have when the rocket took off. The extra weight sent the entire machine careering back down to earth before it had time to leave the earth’s atmosphere.
The project had taken nine years to get to launch phase. A team of experts will now investigate the incident.
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Comments
Its always amusing how NASA can build a $200 million satellite, and the part which fails probably costs 50c or something.
Guess they'll have to write that satellite off then!
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