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
|
|
Sunday, June 21
Revealing how and when a black hole’s mighty winds can squash star formation
Univ. of Michigan — 11:36 am ET (1536 GMT) How an oddball ‘hot Jupiter’ shows us new possibilities for planets beyond our solar system
Univ. of Michigan — 11:35 am ET (1535 GMT) GMV will develop Satellite Control System for CAMILA, Poland’s largest satellite initiative
GMV — 11:35 am ET (1535 GMT) Gilat to Acquire Comtech’s Satellite & Space Communications Segment Creating a Leading Provider of Advanced Defense and Satellite Communications Solutions
Gilat Satellite Networks — 11:33 am ET (1533 GMT) Stars of physics descend on Westminster to halt catastrophic funding cuts
Royal Aeronautical Society — 11:32 am ET (1532 GMT) |
