NASA Orbital Satellite Crashes into the Ocean

Years of hard work amounts to nothing as the NASA Orbital Satellite crashes soon after its launch on the morning of Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The satellite was designed to measure global warming and represented the collaborative efforts of many scientific minds.

Everything seemed fine when the satellite was first launched early this morning. Three minutes later, however, a problem with the nose cone was observed. The nose cone was created to protect the NASA Orbital Satellite from atmospheric friction as it entered orbit above the Polar Regions. The nose cone, however, was then supposed to detach to allow the Orbital Satellite's rockets to propel it - the Satellite - further. The cone malfunctioned and did not open. The satellite, overcome by the nose cone's extra weight, plummeted back down to Earth.

The Orbital Satellite landed in the ocean near Antarctica.

The NASA Orbital Satellite was built over three years at the Air force Base in California. The final cost of the NASA Orbital Satellite was 280 million U.S. Dollars. Its demise represents a huge burden to the division of NASA that funded and created it - The Orbital Sciences Corporation.

The Satellite weighed 986 pounds and the shell covering that protected its tip - the faulty nose cone - was supposed to switch open and detach. The Orbital Sciences Corporation claims that its nose cone has never faltered before.

Many in the scientific community are distressed by the NASA Orbital Satellite's demise, as its purpose was to measure carbon dioxide emissions - the leading cause of Global Warming.