Solar sail microsatellite feared lost
Posted: Sun, Dec 12, 2010, 10:43 AM ET (1543 GMT)
NASA officials said late Friday that it has not established contact with a small experimental solar sail satellite deployed earlier in the week, and is not even sure the satellite ejected from another spacecraft as planned. The NanoSail-D satellite was scheduled to deploy early Monday from another small satellite, FASTSAT, and deploy a solar sail three days later. However, satellite controllers have not established contact with NanoSail-D since the deployment, and project officials said in a statement Friday that they can't confirm the satellite actually was ejected from FASTSAT, despite telemetry data from the scheduled deployment that was "indicative" of a successful deployment. NanoSail-D, weighing only a few kilograms, is designed to deploy a 10-square-meter solar sail that would be used to adjust and eventually deorbit the satellite. The satellites were among several launched last month on a Minotaur 4 from Alaska.
NASA officials said late Friday that it has not established contact with a small experimental solar sail satellite deployed earlier in the week, and is not even sure the satellite ejected from another spacecraft as planned. The NanoSail-D satellite was scheduled to deploy early Monday from another small satellite, FASTSAT, and deploy a solar sail three days later. However, satellite controllers have not established contact with NanoSail-D since the deployment, and project officials said in a statement Friday that they can't confirm the satellite actually was ejected from FASTSAT, despite telemetry data from the scheduled deployment that was "indicative" of a successful deployment. NanoSail-D, weighing only a few kilograms, is designed to deploy a 10-square-meter solar sail that would be used to adjust and eventually deorbit the satellite. The satellites were among several launched last month on a Minotaur 4 from Alaska.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, November 8
Globalstar Announces Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results
Business Wire — 8:41 am ET (1341 GMT) All eyes on Blue Origin as New Glenn prepares for high-stakes launch
WESH-TV Orlando — 8:38 am ET (1338 GMT) NASA's Escapade Mission May Finally Reveal How the Martian Atmosphere Works
CNET News.com — 8:37 am ET (1337 GMT) SpaceX Buys $2.6B More EchoStar Spectrum
Aviation Week — 8:33 am ET (1333 GMT) Globalstar stays mum on rumored sale of company
FierceWireless — 8:32 am ET (1332 GMT) |
