Foton returns to Earth, but geckos perish
Posted: Wed, Sep 3, 2014, 2:02 PM ET (1802 GMT)
A Russian research spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday, but its most celebrated payload did not survive the trip. The Foton-M4 spacecraft, launched in mid-July, landed Monday at 5:18 am EDT (0918 GMT, 1:18 pm Moscow time), returning to Earth biological and other experiments. However, five geckos that flew on the spacecraft were found to be dead upon landing. Russian media report that the geckos died of hypothermia, likely because of the failure of a thermal control system. It wasn't clear if that failure was linked to control problems the spacecraft experienced in the days after launch. Other experiments on the spacecraft, including one involving flies, were declared successful by Russian officials.
A Russian research spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday, but its most celebrated payload did not survive the trip. The Foton-M4 spacecraft, launched in mid-July, landed Monday at 5:18 am EDT (0918 GMT, 1:18 pm Moscow time), returning to Earth biological and other experiments. However, five geckos that flew on the spacecraft were found to be dead upon landing. Russian media report that the geckos died of hypothermia, likely because of the failure of a thermal control system. It wasn't clear if that failure was linked to control problems the spacecraft experienced in the days after launch. Other experiments on the spacecraft, including one involving flies, were declared successful by Russian officials.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, March 23
A rare encounter: How Juice came to observe 3I/ATLAS
ESA — 4:14 am ET (0814 GMT) Ukraine makes territorial gains as Russia loses Starlink access
Semafor — 4:14 am ET (0814 GMT) State of Vandenberg: Growth, transparency, and a shared future
Santa Maria (CA) Times — 4:10 am ET (0810 GMT) Project Sunrise: Blue Origin's Orbital Data Centre Ambition
AI Magazine — 4:10 am ET (0810 GMT) Elon Musk unveils chip manufacturing plans for SpaceX and Tesla
TechCrunch — 4:08 am ET (0808 GMT) |
