|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Spacecraft Launched on Decommissioned Ballistic Missile May Be Lost in Space, Russian Officials Say
The Cosmos 1 sail-powered spacecraft, launched on a former ballistic missile from a Russian submarine yesterday, may be lost or in an incorrect orbit, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 20). A monitoring satellite did not establish contact with the craft, “which signifies its loss,” said Igor Dygalo, a spokesman for the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet. The problem occurred when the Volna carrier intended to transport the spacecraft into orbit failed, Russia’s Roskosmos space agency announced on its Web site. “Due to the spontaneous failure of the motor of the first part of the Volna missile carrier at the 83rd second of the launch, the unique device ‘solar sail’ did not reach its orbit,” Roskosmos said. The U.S.-based Planetary Society, however, said it had picked up a possible signal from Cosmos 1, though from an incorrect orbit. “We feel reasonably confident that what we saw was a real signal. ... What this means is that we are probably in orbit, but it’s not the orbit that we thought it was,” the organization, which is overseeing the energy propulsion research project, announced on its Web site (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 22). “Good news,” Bruce Murray, a co-founder of the Planetary Society, said late yesterday. “We are very likely in orbit. ... We seem to have a live spacecraft.” Signals appear to have been detected by tracking stations on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, Majuro in the Marshall Islands and at Panska Ves, Czech Republic, the Associated Press reported (John Antczak, Associated Press/Los Angeles Daily News, June 22).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
