NASA declares Deep Impact spacecraft lost
Posted: Sat, Sep 21, 2013, 10:15 AM ET (1415 GMT)
NASA announced Friday it had given up on efforts to try and recover the Deep Impact spacecraft, which had been out of contact with controllers since last month. The spacecraft, launched in 2005 to fly by the comet Tempel 1 and deploy an impactor probe, had been on an extended mission since the July 2005 flyby, flying past the comet Hartley 2 in 2010 and performing other studies of comets as well as extrasolar planets. Earlier this month, project officials said they had been unable to communicate with the spacecraft, and feared it was out of control. The cause of the failure isn't known, although NASA said in a statement Friday that a potential "computer time tagging" issue could have caused attitude control problems with the spacecraft, preventing it from orienting its antenna at Earth and its solar panels at the Sun. Scientists had hoped to use the spacecraft to perform observations of comet ISON later this year.
NASA announced Friday it had given up on efforts to try and recover the Deep Impact spacecraft, which had been out of contact with controllers since last month. The spacecraft, launched in 2005 to fly by the comet Tempel 1 and deploy an impactor probe, had been on an extended mission since the July 2005 flyby, flying past the comet Hartley 2 in 2010 and performing other studies of comets as well as extrasolar planets. Earlier this month, project officials said they had been unable to communicate with the spacecraft, and feared it was out of control. The cause of the failure isn't known, although NASA said in a statement Friday that a potential "computer time tagging" issue could have caused attitude control problems with the spacecraft, preventing it from orienting its antenna at Earth and its solar panels at the Sun. Scientists had hoped to use the spacecraft to perform observations of comet ISON later this year.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, September 18
Russia developing Starlink rival at 'rapid pace,' space chief says
Reuters — 1:56 am ET (0556 GMT) Rocket Lab Looks To Raise $750M In Share Sale
Aviation Week — 1:53 am ET (0553 GMT) Blue Origin hires Christopher Fuller as marketing and comms head
PRWeek — 1:52 am ET (0552 GMT) Weather Causes SpaceX Team to Scrub Wednesday’s Liftoff Attempt From VSFB
Noozhawk — 1:50 am ET (0550 GMT) Update: SpaceX Launch from Vandenberg Rescheduled Due to Weather
Santa Barbara (CA) Edhat — 1:50 am ET (0550 GMT) |
