Print 16 comment(s) - last by Brian H.. on Oct 20 at 8:04 AM

Orbcomm said it will be filing an insurance claim of $10 million to cover the prototype satellite as well as the cost of the launch and insurance policy

Orbcomm's prototype second-generation satellite, OG2, has fallen out of orbit after SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed to launch it into the correct trajectory.

Orbcomm, a satellite messaging service provider, had sent its OG2 prototype into space aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket during the Oct. 7 launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The main mission was to send the Dragon capsule to the ISS for supplies, but NASA and SpaceX agreed to let Orbcomm send a satellite high into orbit on the Falcon 9 as a secondary part of the mission. 

However, a small mishap occurred during the Oct. 7 flight: one of the nine Merlin first-stage engines on Falcon 9 shut down. 

The Falcon 9 was still able to lift the Dragon to the ISS successfully on Oct. 10, but it was unable to launch the OG2 prototype far enough into orbit to collect an optimal amount of data. It wandered for four days before falling out of orbit. 

However, Orbcomm said that wandering satellite gathered enough data in the nearly four-day period to proceed with the full constellation launch next year. The constellation launch consists of sending 18 second-generation satellites into orbit aboard two Falcon 9 rockets. 

Orbcomm said it will be filing an insurance claim of $10 million to cover the prototype satellite as well as the cost of the launch and insurance policy. If the insurance underwriters accept this, Orbcomm will not need to launch another prototype. Rather, it would be able to launch all 18 satellites starting next year thanks to the amount of data collected during the recent launch. 

SpaceX added that Orbcomm knew that there was a chance that OG2 wouldn't make it into the correct orbit beforehand. 

"It is important to appreciate that Orbcomm understoof from the beginning that the orbit-raising maneuver was tentative," said Katherine Nelson, SpaceX spokeswoman. "They accepted that there was a high risk of their satellite remaining at the Dragon insertion orbit. SpaceX would not have agreed to fly their satellite otherwise, since this was not part of the core mission and there was a known, material risk of no altitude raise."

SpaceX's Dragon is currently at the ISS unloading 882 pounds of cargo, and will bring twice that amount of cargo back to Earth near the end of October. 

Source: MSNBC

Comments     Threshold


RE: SpaceX Mishap?
By Brian H on 10/20/2012 8:04:33 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, were it not for NASA-imposed paranoid safety constraints, the engines (including the glitched one) could have re-ignited after 2nd stage separation and lifted the Orbcomm into a high enough orbit. But SpaceX was constrained from doing so by NASA rulez.

Maybe Orbcomm and the insurer should sue NASA for any added cost that ultimately results.

