NASA Satellite Stranded

Posted by michael on Saturday March 23, 2002 @10:29PM from the earth-to-major-tom dept.

Account 10 writes: "BBC News has a story about one of NASA's newest and most sophisticated satellites. Launched a couple of weeks ago, it was supposed to have moved itself up into the correct orbit . Once there, one of its roles would be to route data between the ISS, other satellites and the ground as aprt of the TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) project. However a fuel tank is leaking and it cannot reach its orbit. One suggestion is that it maneuver itself into an orbit where the shuttle can reach and rescue it - to repair it and send it on its way, or bring it home to be launched again."

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Shuttle designed for it by ZigMonty · 2002-03-24 00:00 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'm sure it is more dangerous to land a shuttle with all that extra weight in the cargo area.
The shuttle is designed to be able to bring satellites back. From the link:
The space shuttle is the world's first reusable spacecraft, and the first spacecraft in history that can carry large satellites both to and from orbit.
Now, whether it's more dangerous to bring back a satellite leaking fuel is another matter! I figure that they'd drain it before bringing it back though.