Nasa Says Satellites Failed

Two scientific satellites that failed to detach themselves from a launch rocket earlier this week are orbiting uselessly for lack of electrical power and are probably a total loss, NASA said Thursday.

The satellites, valued at $21.5 million and $26 million, were carried into orbit Monday on a Pegasus rocket launched from beneath a an L1011 jumbo jet as it flew off the Virginia coast.

One spacecraft, SAC-B, was designed to look at solar flares and gamma ray bursts and was a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Argentina.

The SAC-B solar arrays, which gather electricity, were deployed by command from the ground but the satellite’s tumbling would not allow the generation of enough power to keep its batteries charged.

The second satellite, the High Energy Transient Experiment, is designed to remain dormant until the solar arrays detect sunlight. That, said NASA, is “unlikely to occur.”