NASA Astronomy Satellite Spins Out of Control

A $79-million NASA astronomy satellite overheated and was sent spinning out of control soon after it reached orbit, space agency officials said Friday.

NASA declared a spacecraft emergency as ground controllers struggled to regain control of the Wide-Field Infrared Explorer, an agency spokesman said from Washington.

The 590-pound satellite rocketed into orbit Thursday night on a winged Pegasus booster dropped from the belly of a modified jetliner flying off the coast of California.

Space agency officials were speculating that a telescope cover may have been accidentally ejected from WIRE soon after launch, allowing sunlight to warm the spacecraft. The ejection was not supposed to happen until Sunday.

The unexpectedly high temperatures were thawing a block of frozen hydrogen used to cool the satellite’s highly sensitive infrared telescope. As the hydrogen escapes as a gas, it causes the craft to spin.

Ground controllers were trying to cool the satellite and hoped to bring it back under control before the precious supply of hydrogen boiled away, rendering the telescope useless.

“We’re not giving up hope of recovery,” NASA spokesman Don Savage said.

WIRE was launched by Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp., one of the largest space and information systems companies in the world. The satellite’s four-month mission was to learn more about how and when galaxies formed, and the history of star formation.