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from the all-things-come-to-those-who-wait dept.
NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument, which will study how solar activity affects Earth's upper atmosphere, was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket and is attached to a commercial satellite. However, GOLD was briefly feared lost along with the two satellites that were launched, until communications were established and it was found that the satellites had been deployed in lower-than-expected orbits:
A brief tracking failure led to fears that the satellite meant to host NASA's new mission to better understand space weather had been lost, according to SpaceFlightNow. Though the European Ariane 5 rocket carrying the satellite lifted off uneventfully, none of the customers with spacecraft on the rocket could reach their probes for some time.
The satellites are in orbit now and have communicated with their control centers, Arianespace announced, but it looks like the rocket deployed the satellites into less than ideal orbits. "The mission experienced some challenges during the launch stages which resulted in the Al Yah 3 satellite being inserted into an orbit that differed from the flight plan," Yahsat, a satellite communications company whose Al Yah 3 vehicle was on the rocket, said in a statement. "However, the satellite is healthy and operating nominally."
The other customer, Luxembourg-based operator SES, also confirmed that its satellite, SES-14, went into a lower orbit than planned but is operating just fine. SES-14 is hosting an instrument called GOLD, which is the first NASA mission to consist of an instrument living on a commercial company's satellite. Both SES and Yahsat say they will figure out a way for the satellites to course-correct in order to get to their originally planned orbits and do their jobs.
An Ariane 5 rocket is scheduled to launch the James Webb Space Telescope in 2019.
Also at the University of Colorado Boulder and Newsweek.
Previously: NASA's GOLD Mission to Study the Upper Atmosphere Using a Commercial Satellite
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday January 27 2018, @04:29AM (2 children)
Evolutionarily speaking, the whole world, America included, has been on greased skids to stupidity for 60+ years now.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 27 2018, @09:30PM (1 child)
And the 60+ years of your Father's generation, and his father's and his father's....
There is nothing new or insightful about grousing about the stupidity of the upcoming generation. Its been done every generation since the Pleistocene.
Yet some how your grandfather's generation managed to build steam trains, and your's or your father's built rocket ships.
The only people ride horses any more are pubescent girls.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday January 27 2018, @10:29PM
It takes less and less intelligence to breed as time goes on, the article referenced above noted how fecundity was correlated with intelligence as recently as the 1800s. Since WWII that correlation has swung around to the negative.
🌻🌻 [google.com]