Europe's Biggest Satellite Declared Dead in Space
Europe's Biggest Satellite Declared Dead in Space
By Damon Poeter
- May 9, 2012 05:20pm EST
Envisat, Europe's largest satellite, is finally dead in space after remaining functional for twice its expected operational lifespan, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.
The Earth-monitoring satellite entered orbit in March 2002 and beamed back data for more than a decade, which was used "in 4,000 science projects in 70 countries, including landmark research on climate change," according to Agence France-Presse. Envisat was originally designed to operate for just five years, the news agency reported.
"Following rigorous attempts to re-establish contact and the investigation of failure scenarios, the end of the mission is being declared," the ESA said in a statement. "Envisat had already operated for double its planned lifetime, making it well overdue for retirement."
The satellite's last contact with Earth happened prior to a failed radio call to a Swedish ground station on April 8, AFP reported.
The enormous orbiter is 35-feet long and weighs more than 18,000 pounds, making it the largest such observational satellite on record. The ESA plans to replace Envisat with seven Sentinel satellites that will be launched beginning next year and eventually replicate the single satellite's duties.
Over the years, those duties have included ocean current imaging and monitoring used to project the impact of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in the Pacific Ocean and the 2010 BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, as well as collecting data for scientists studying global climate change, deforestation, overfishing, and other large-scale research areas.
Envisat has orbited the planet more than 50,000 times since its launch, traveling about 1.4 billion miles in the process, according to AFP. The ESA said the launch of the Sentinel replacements "has become even more urgent to ensure the continuity of data to users, improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security."
The space agency did not detail what would happen to Envisat now that its mission has been declared over.
For more from Damon, follow him on Twitter @dpoeter.
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