Tim Furniss/LONDON
NASA's Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) satellite was lost on 8 March, four days after launch. The spacecraft entered orbit safely aboard an Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus booster after an air launch on 4 March, but soon went into a 60rpm spin.
The $73 million WIRE, part of NASA's Small Explorer project, was to have studied the birth of stars and galaxies in the Universe.
The space agency believes the spin was induced by hydrogen gas venting from the frozen hydrogen coolant system designed to enable the craft's 300mm infrared telescope to operate. The block of hydrogen ice in the cryostat container overheated after a cover over the telescope came off three days prematurely, exposing the instrument to sunlight.
The WIRE had been brought under control by rewriting software in the satellite's attitude control system, but it was too late because all the hydrogen had vented. NASA now plans to use the 255kg craft for engineering tests.
NASA's next infrared observing mission will be the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the last of its Great Observatory craft, which includes the Hubble Space Telescope. The SIRTF is due for launch in 2001.
• OSC has been selected by the University of Colorado to develop and build the $22.3 million Total Solar Irradiance Mission satellite for a launch aboard a Pegasus booster for NASA in 2001.
Source: Flight International
