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NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory Mission Fails

jw3 writes "The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory scheduled for launch today has failed its mission: the payload fairing failed to separate and the launch managers declared a contingency. George Diller, NASA launch commentator, said, 'It either did not separate or did not separate in the way that it should, but at any rate we're still trying to evaluate exactly what the status of the spacecraft is at this point.'" Update: 02/24 14:17 GMT by T : Reader fadethepolice points out a Reuters report which says that the craft crashed into the ocean just short of Antarctica.

14 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Global Warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    is a hoax, and the rocket knows it was just wasting time and money. It threw the launch.

  2. Evaluating the status? by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Without a full investigation, I'd hypothesize tha the status is "laying in many pieces on the ice somewhere in Antarctica."

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Evaluating the status? by ruin20 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well that's what they get for trying to launch a satellite with a Taurus. I had one back in the late ninties and the tranny on them was completely worthless. It should come as no surprise that, just when you needed, a Ford breaks down.

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      Oh honey look... How cute... an angry slashdotter!
    2. Re:Evaluating the status? by jimwormold · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was thinking of an entirely different type of tranny, you old time talker you.

    3. Re:Evaluating the status? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 4, Funny

      In other news, the Antarctic research station isn't responding :-)

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      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    4. Re:Evaluating the status? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was thinking of an entirely different type of tranny, you old time talker you.

      I think we are thinking of the same kind of tranny, and "the tranny in the Ford Taurus is completely useless" matches my experiences pretty well. Goddamn Wanda.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  3. Fantastic! by The+Fun+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    The telemetry from the satellite is reading zero across the board. That must mean there's no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere anymore. Now we don't have to worry about global warming - fantastic!

    Good work, NASA. I knew we could get this climate change thing cleared up once we had better data.

    --
    The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
  4. Re:Whick rocket? by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Funny

    That was _last_ season. This season we'll be monitoring CO2 levels from space. Also planned are mapping cow farts via Google maps mashups and planned for season three: a Google maps/Zillow mashup showing the exact number of humans on the African sub-continent who could have survived for more than a month on the energy wasted through the carbon footprint of every house in America. That's right. Search for your house in Zillow and be instantly notified of how many people died so you could watch the superbowlcrapgame in comfort and style. Additional efforts by season 2 sponsor AT&T will allow you to track high CO2 outputters via GPS in their phones. Season 3 sponsors AT&T and General Dynamics plan to bring you HCO European edition via UAV. That's right, each week we'll allow one Republican Evangelical to get "up close and personal" with one of Europe's most prolific CO2 outputters via UAV. The fun never ends.

    Thanks to the FTC, EPA, and several other federal agencies, there will be no tax credits, carbon credits, alternative energies, or in fact any plan to reduce CO2 outputs. We just want you to see what you could have done to help the world. It's a feel better move, change you can relax with.

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    ---

    What actually happened is that the aliens hiding behind the moon realized we'd notice their trail of hothouse gases from terraforming equipment on the moon, and have disabled the rocket to ensure the satellite does not do its job.

  5. Civilization Sabotage! by Mr_Perl · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dear Lincoln,

    Ha ha old man, I had to spend much in sabotaging your CO2 monitoring satellite. But now all your base are belong to us.

    Signed,
    Chairman Mao
    Chinese Empire

    --

    My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
  6. Re:well we're f*****d by tpheiska · · Score: 5, Funny

    So we lost a machine that would have given us concrete evidence on the *possible* increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. And now NASA lost it even though they haven't lost an earth orbit bound spacecraft in a while. Let me get my tinfoil hat.

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    "wahts woring iwth my tyoping?"
  7. Re:Taurus XL by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems more like they used a Taurus. If one of those gets where it's going, it's a miracle.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. Re:NASA Satellite lands in ocean by ruin20 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So this means that in the battle against climate change, the biggest shot NASA has taken thus far is a rocket attack on Antarctica.

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    Oh honey look... How cute... an angry slashdotter!
  9. Re:NASA Satellite lands in ocean by GaryOlson · · Score: 3, Funny

    No...to measure ice melt properties in Antarctica, NASA scattered a non-homogeneous collection of light reflection and absorption particle on the shelf. Approval to scatter material all across Antarctica would have been delayed in committee for months using normal methods. This way, everyone feels sorry for NASA that they lost a scientific rocket when in fact they have succeeded.

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    Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
  10. Re:NASA Satellite lands in ocean by ashitaka · · Score: 5, Funny

    An ICBM is what happens when you take a shit outside in Antarctica.

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    If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.