London, Mar 5 (ANI): NASA's attempt to launch its latest Earth observation mission has ended in failure.
The Glory satellite lifted off from California on a quest to gather new data on factors that influence the climate. But about three minutes into the flight, telemetry indicated a problem.
It appears the fairing-the part of the rocket that covers the satellite on top of the launcher-did not separate properly.
This would have made the rocket too heavy and therefore too slow to achieve its intended 700km orbit.
"All indications are that the satellite and the rocket are in the Southern Pacific Ocean somewhere," the BBC quoted launch director Omar Baez, as saying.
The loss of the 260 million pounds Glory mission is a huge blow to the Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) as well as NASA.
Glory was carrying two instruments. One of its instruments would have measured the total energy coming from the Sun; the other would have looked at particles in the atmosphere that can trap that energy or scatter it back out into space. (ANI)
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