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Compton Goes Splash Into Pacific
Washington (AFP) June 4 2000 - The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which had circled the globe for nearly a decade, disintegrated in the heavens over the Pacific Ocean after being deliberately destroyed for safety reasons, US space officials said Sunday. Officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the 17-tonne observatory began its descent shortly after midnight Sunday (0400 GMT) and reentered the Earth's atmosphere "as expected" at 0705 GMT, with debris that survived reentry falling into the ocean about 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) southeast of Hawaii. "Everything indicates that we hit the target," said a NASA spokesman at the Goddard center, based in Laurel, Maryland, adding that more detailed information about the debris that rained down on Earth would be available over the next 24 hours. NASA officials said the observatory was too large to be destroyed entirely by reentering Earth's atmosphere, and that orchestrating an ocean splashdown was the most prudent course of action. "This location provides a landing area with a very large margin of safety," the Goddard Space Flight Center, monitored the satellite, said in a statement. The space agency fired up the satellite's engines on Tuesday and Wednesday to begin the observatory's descent and did so twice again early Sunday which caused the craft to plunge to Earth. During its 760-million dollar nine-year mission, the observatory allowed scientists to study celestial sources of gamma-rays, which are usually generated by the most violent cataclysms in the universe, emitting huge amounts of energy. Thanks to the satellite, astronomers were able to identify more than 400 sources of gamma-rays, a tenfold increase from the period before it was placed in orbit. "New discoveries made by Campton changed our view of the universe in fundamental ways," said NASA program director Alan Bunner. Initially, NASA had planned to retire the observatory in 1996, but its mission was extended by four more years. However, one of the three gyroscopes which allow the satellite to maintain its altitude of 511 kilometers (317 miles), broke down several months ago, and the observatory lacked fuel to move into a higher orbit. According to scientists, a loss of one of the two remaining devices would have rendered the satellite uncontrollable and risked creating a hazard to densely populated areas upon its fall. CommunityEmail This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space
Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India. |
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