WATCH: Two satellites lost because of engine malfunction
The
best laid plans always go awry, as they say…
The Astra contract, worth an insane R127-million, lost two of its satellites recently due to an engine malfunction.
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The two shoebox-sized satellites were designed to monitor storms and study hurricanes from orbit.
The rocket's launch carrying the satellites went off without a hitch, but the booster rocket shut down after only 10 minutes.
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The project’s manager, Amanda Durk Frye, commented: “After a nominal first stage flight, the upper stage of the rocket shut down early and failed to deliver the TROPICS CubeSats to orbit”.
Watch the video below:
TROPICS is part of @NASAEarth Venture program for lower-cost, higher risk missions: payloads that tolerate relatively high risk and serve as an ideal platform for innovation. For TROPICS: four out of six small satellites are needed for the mission to work: https://t.co/2Bf9mrMc2B pic.twitter.com/hrUGexvBne
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) June 12, 2022