OCO Launch "Contingency" |
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OCO Launch "Contingency" |
 Feb 24 2009, 10:21 AM
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#1
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 Member  Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700  |
NASA-TV reports the third stage failed to separate. Press conference in two hours.
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Feb 24 2009, 10:34 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
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Feb 24 2009, 11:02 AM
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#3
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
QUOTE (brellis @ Feb 24 2009, 11:21 AM)  NASA-TV reports the third stage failed to separate. "payload fairing failed to separate" Apparent loss of mission, no useful orbit achieved. -------------------- |
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Feb 24 2009, 11:13 AM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
The folks at MC looked so sad on NASA-TV, I had to turn it off. spacetoday article
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Feb 24 2009, 11:33 AM
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#5
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Bottom line: launching rockets always has been and always will be a risky business. So many different things that can go wrong, and any one of them might prove catastrophic. But if you don't try, you don't fly. The science team must be absolutely gutted to see all their hard work lost so suddenly and so publicly. My sympathies - and I hope everyone else's - to them, if any of them are lurking here.
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Feb 24 2009, 01:10 PM
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#6
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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Feb 24 2009, 01:33 PM
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#7
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Off topic posts removed.
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Feb 24 2009, 01:42 PM
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#8
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 22 Joined: 3-January 07 Member No.: 1551 |
QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 24 2009, 11:02 AM) "payload fairing failed to separate" Apparent loss of mission, no useful orbit achieved. At least the Japanese Ibuki satellite seems to have launched successfully, and as far as I can tell it's doing much the same mission as OCO; I don't know what's lost by having only one set of CO2 measurements, but one is a lot better than zero. |
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Feb 24 2009, 02:48 PM
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#9
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1372 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
The latest report says it ended up in the ocean.
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Feb 24 2009, 02:54 PM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
Short of Antarctica, to be exact.
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Feb 25 2009, 01:21 AM
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#11
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 Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Sad indeed. Not as disappointing as the loss of Contour, but only because I had never heard of it until reading of the launch failure, so I wasn't anticipating anything.
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Feb 25 2009, 02:28 AM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
On NASA-TV's broadcast, everything was "nominal" through the first two stages. Just when I started relaxing, their expressions all changed. A bunch of our "best and brightest" just saw the next several years of their lives change at that moment.
I hope part of the "Contingency" involves rebuilding this important observatory. |
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Feb 25 2009, 08:15 PM
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#13
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 646 Joined: 23-December 05 From: Forest of Dean Member No.: 617 |
Massive suckage
ISTR that commercial satellite launches are insured - if the launcher goes bang, the payload owners get a payout which goes some way, at least, towards rebuilding the lost spacecraft. I'm guessing NASA don't do that? -------------------- --
Viva software libre! |
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Feb 27 2009, 07:01 AM
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#14
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
How many months before we know what happened?
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Feb 27 2009, 03:58 PM
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#15
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 Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
QUOTE (imipak @ Feb 25 2009, 12:15 PM) ISTR that commercial satellite launches are insured - if the launcher goes bang, the payload owners get a payout which goes some way, at least, towards rebuilding the lost spacecraft. I'm guessing NASA don't do that? No, NASA (and all other space agencies as far as I know) are "self-insured," i.e. rather than buy commercial insurance, they are simply aware of risks and prepared for the fact that they'll have to absorb costs for occasional failures. If you're a big enough entity, dealing with relatively risky stuff, it's much more efficient to self-insure. (Or, basically, the entire American tax base is NASA's insurer.) --Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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