Contact lost with Envisat
Posted: Fri, Apr 13, 2012, 9:54 AM ET (1354 GMT)
The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed Thursday that it has lost contact with its Envisat earth observing satellite. ESA announced in a statement that contact with Envisat was unexpectedly lost on April 8, and has yet to be restored. The loss of communications raises concerns that the spacecraft could be lost permanently. The spacecraft appears to be intact and stabled, based on radar images of it taken from the ground. ESA launched Envisat in 2002 on what was planned to be a five-year mission, but the spacecraft has more than doubled that lifetime. ESA hoped to keep Envisat operational through the launch of the first Sentinel earth observing satellites in 2013 and 2014.
The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed Thursday that it has lost contact with its Envisat earth observing satellite. ESA announced in a statement that contact with Envisat was unexpectedly lost on April 8, and has yet to be restored. The loss of communications raises concerns that the spacecraft could be lost permanently. The spacecraft appears to be intact and stabled, based on radar images of it taken from the ground. ESA launched Envisat in 2002 on what was planned to be a five-year mission, but the spacecraft has more than doubled that lifetime. ESA hoped to keep Envisat operational through the launch of the first Sentinel earth observing satellites in 2013 and 2014.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Vast signs contract with SpaceX for ISS private astronaut missions
Posted: Sat, Dec 21 11:59 AM ET (1659 GMT) Avio signs ESA contracts for Vega upgrades and Earth science satellite launch
Posted: Sat, Dec 21 11:57 AM ET (1657 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Friday, January 3
OneWeb outage underscores value of multi-orbit connectivity
Runway Girl Network — 7:05 am ET (1205 GMT) Eutelsat discloses 48-hour outage on its OneWeb LEO constellation
Light Reading — 7:04 am ET (1204 GMT) OneWeb Service is Restored After a 48-Hour Outage
ViaSatellite — 7:03 am ET (1203 GMT) OneWeb service restored after 48-hour outage
BroadcastPro ME — 7:03 am ET (1203 GMT) Elon Musk is standing in the way as Jeff Bezos reaches for orbit
Financial Times — 7:02 am ET (1202 GMT) |
