[X] My Assistant

[general]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4319596.stm

Mission control at ESA is growing increasingly concerned about the fate of Europe's ice monitoring spacecraft, Cryosat.

The Cryosat spacecraft was launched at 1902 local time today, Oct 8, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, but mission controllers have failed to receive a signal from the spacecraft.

[general]

Two days ago, another Russian lauch failed:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_05...tor_launch.html

[Bob Shaw]

Two days ago, another Russian lauch failed:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_05...tor_launch.html

 

I followed the links, but don't see any mention of failure - just no recovery (yet). It took them ages last time they flew one of these chaps... ...oh, and it appears (according to an earlier Space.Com article) that the re-entry system is indeed based on the Mars 96 vehicles: "DaimlerChrysler cooperated with Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin to develop the Inflatable Reentry Descent Technology as a compact and cheap way of returning cargo from space. This system was originally designed for Russia's Mars '96 spacecraft. That project failed to leave the Earth orbit after its launch by a Proton rocket..."

Bob Shaw

[blobrana]

An agency official said experts could not establish communication with the vehicle because it might have landed in an area with heavy radio interference or its transmitter had been damaged during the landing. A search would continue for three days as a matter of routine; but it is too early to declare the craft lost.

The Demonstrator launched successfully.

R-29R Volna (Wave) rocket which is based on an RSM-50 ICBM (SS-N-18, 'Stingray'), a design that is very old by todays standards.

For the Cryosat launch, the Rockot's Breeze-KM upper stage is fairly new. The SS-19 ballistic missile to which the second stage was added, is however very dated.

Seemingly the booster unit did not switch on; the flight computer had a missing command.
Doh!