NASA'S CO2 MONITORING SATELLITE CRASHES MINUTES AFTER LAUNCH

NASA's first attempt to map carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere from space was dealt with a big blow on Tuesday after a botched satellite launch from California.The $278 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory(OCO) blasted off aboard an unmanned Taurus rocket- the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency - from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:55 a.m. EST (0955 GMT), headed for an orbital.The official word is that- the part of the rocket which covers the satellite on top of the launcher - did not separate properlyand consequently, the spacecraft crashed into the ocean near Antarctica.John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, told journalists: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is very disappointed in the events of this morning.The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit."

The major cause for the malfunction,the launch vehicle Taurus XL has a had a fairly high success rate 0f 6 out of 8 sine its debut in 1994.Taurus is based on Orbital's air-launched Pegasus rockets which have a long, proud history. The fairing is essentially the same as is used on that rocket.The only other failure to hit the Taurus rocket occurred in September 2001, when the rocket dropped off its payload of two satellites at a lower altitude than had been intended.The US space agency will now put together a "Mishap Investigation Board" to determine the root cause of the problem.The first indication of a problem came in an announcement made by the Nasa launch commentator, George Diller."This is Taurus launch control. We have declared a launch contingency, meaning that we did not have a successful launch tonight," he said. Separation of the fairing was one of the last technical hurdles faced by the satellite as it flew into orbit. Orbital said there had been no changes to the design of the fairing since previous launches.

Mr Brunschwyler, programme manager for the Taurus rockets, cast doubt on any suggestion of a link between the failure and a power glitch which occurred to the vehicle just prior to launch."That was on a separate system, so I do not believe there was any connection," Mr Brunschwyler told journalists at the Nasa press conference. Scientists had hoped OCO would improve models of the Earth's climate and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas is coming from and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans.

This would have helped scientists make more accurate predictions of future climate change.According to Dr Palmer"All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink". Gosat was launched in January from Tanegashima in Japan. It is also designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases.Nasa's Glory satellite, which is designed to measure carbon soot and other aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, is due to launch on a Taurus XL from California in June.This failure comes as a major jolt to environmental scientists who hope of reducing greenhouse gases and impacts of global warming.Although 280 million dollars is not a signifiant loss on NAS's terms,it has still a major setback and has personally wounded the NASA scientists.