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Russia Blames Human Error for Loss of Angolan Satellite

takyon writes:

Russia's recent rocket launch was programmed with the wrong point of origin:

The loss of a multi-million pound weather mapping satellite was due to programming errors, the Russian deputy prime minister has said. Dmitry Rogozin said Meteor-M had been programmed for take-off from a different space station.

Speaking to Russian state TV, he blamed "human error". "The rocket was programmed as if it was taking off from Baikonur," he told the Rossyia 24 TV channel.

In fact the rocket was actually taking off from new base Vostochny, in the east of the country.

Angola Loses Contact With First Commercial Satellite

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

AngoSat-1, a communications satellite built for almost $300m, was launched on Tuesday evening from the launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

It was scheduled to work for 15 years and was made to improve telecommunications in the African country. About 50 Angolan aerospace engineers were trained around the world. This crew was supposed to oversee mission from a control centre in Angola.

Earlier this year, Angola made public its long-term plan for its space programme, which envisages a steady expansion in the coming years. It is unclear how a failure of AngoSat-1 will influence that multi-year plan.

Also at Reuters.

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