Envisat, Now Quiet for Nearly a Month, Is Declared Dead by the ESA - Polidicks

[QUOTE]PopSci reported almost a month ago that the European Space Agency had lost contact with its flagship Earth-observing satellite. Today, we must relay with heavy hearts that Envisat has been declared dead on orbit. The ESA will suspend recovery efforts today, the agency has said. The $2.9 billion Envisat is the world’s largest civilian Earth-observing satellite, originally designed for a five year mission spent taking high-res images of Earth from above. Envisat outlasted its expiration date by a further five years, turning in a solid decade of service. But on April 8, its run of good luck came to an end when ESA officials say it stopped communicating with ground stations. For the past month agency engineers have been trying to restore contact to no avail. The satellite may have experienced a short circuit that kicked it over into a safe mode from which it cannot escape for whatever reason. Or a power regulator may have failed, or any number of other things may have happened. The bottom line: at 16 feet wide and 46 feet long, Envisat--once the ESA’s scientific workhorse--is now a 17,600 pound orbiting space junk risk, and will remain one for the next 150 years or so, experts say. [img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/ENVISAT-01_hr.jpeg[/img] [/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-05/envisat-now-quiet-nearly-month-declared-dead-esa[/url]

It had a good run. Five years past its expected death is amazing in itself.

Well, atleast it worked great for much longer than expected, it was bound to happen.

rip you will be missed

[QUOTE=Raizo;35903207]rip you will be missed[/QUOTE] Until the moment it collides with another satellite/spaceship.

The fact it lasted double it's lifetime it was designed for, it's done pretty well. [editline]10th May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Awesomecaek;35903313]Until the moment it collides with another satellite/spaceship.[/QUOTE] That'll be fun considering how much shit we have in orbit doing nothing. [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-GEO1280.jpg[/t]

Uhh "civilian Earth-observing satellite"? Great now I can take my foil hat off.

[QUOTE=eddy-tt-;35903344] That'll be fun considering how much shit we have in orbit doing nothing. [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-GEO1280.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Seriously why the fuck are we cluttering up our space around the earth. That's ridiculous

[QUOTE=eddy-tt-;35903344]The fact it lasted double it's lifetime it was designed for, it's done pretty well. [editline]10th May 2012[/editline] That image makes it look worse than it is because each dot is so large. In reality we could launch thousands upon thousands more satellites into space and not have an issue because satellites are really fucking small and the earth is really fucking huge. That'll be fun considering how much shit we have in orbit doing nothing. [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-GEO1280.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]

I BELIEVE. ENVISAT 2012!

[QUOTE=confinedUser;35903662]Seriously why the fuck are we cluttering up our space around the earth. That's ridiculous[/QUOTE] It looks pretty cool though dontcha think

[QUOTE=confinedUser;35903662]Seriously why the fuck are we cluttering up our space around the earth. That's ridiculous[/QUOTE] Most of that is little nuts and bolts or paintchips that we are able to track, space debris is usually really small but able to due alot of damage

Good night, sweet prince

[QUOTE=confinedUser;35903662]Seriously why the fuck are we cluttering up our space around the earth. That's ridiculous[/QUOTE] We're not doing it on purpose. We need satellites and to launch spacecraft, so we do.

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;35903970]Most of that is little nuts and bolts or paintchips that we are able to track, space debris is usually really small but able to due alot of damage[/QUOTE] Most of it will burn up when it eventually starts to re-enter the atmosphere, the main problem is it bumping into active satellites, for example one of the satellites used by bskyb and a few other civilian services took a large hit from some remains of a old rocket booster causing one of it's solar arrays to smash and the orbit to be edited.

[QUOTE=T3hW1nn3r;35903598]Uhh "civilian Earth-observing satellite"? Great now I can take my foil hat off.[/QUOTE] It observed Earth and was operated by civilians (non-military). That' why it's a "civilian Earth-observing satellite".

I've got the Pop Science app on my phone too.