Link

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CONTOUR Missing After Critical Engine Firing
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer

Something went wrong this morning when NASA's CONTOUR spacecraft was scheduled to fire its engines to propel it out of Earth orbit, and mission managers have lost contact with the craft and do not know what's wrong.

Article deleted by the Bad Astronomer to prevent me getting sued for copyright violation.
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Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I don't know what to say. I really don't know what happened, but sure hope they find out soon. I hope it doesn't get lost or turned out it burned. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]

-EUROPA [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The Bad Astronomer on 2002-08-15 18:29 ]</font>

Well, the cnn.com article is a little more upbeat.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/0....ap/index.html
Hope springs eternal... [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

And it's interesting that cnn.com starts out with the more neutral, "NASA lost contact with a spacecraft", whereas space.com starts out saying bluntly, "Something went wrong..."

Hi Europa-- please do not cut and paste entire articles from news sources here. This is a violation of copyright laws. Please read the FAQ; specificaly Ground Rule #5. Thanks.

Hmmmmmmm....I never knew that, TBA. Sorry about that. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img] I will never do it again! But it's weird, everyone c/p's whole articles all the time on other message boards, so I thought it would be no difference here. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] Again, sorry.

-EUROPA [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EUROPA on 2002-08-15 19:42 ]</font>

Some other boards are a little loose when it comes to enforcing copyright, so you will find a lot of full articles around. But the BA is a bit more concientious and doesn't want to risk it.

I was on another board a while back, and they made it clear that press releases were ok and covered by fair-use, but that any other source was considered off-limits. The BA probably doesn't want to take chances even with PR's however.

Adding a few quotes and clips from an article is ok though. Just keep them brief and to-the-point.

And let's hope we get some good news soon.

__________________
...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere

Is this the end of our intrepid hero? Has the cunning CONTOUR finally been crushed by the curse of a complicated calamity? Can the courageous captains calibrate their calculations in time?

Find out in the next issue!!!

Just a quick tip on easy linking.

When submitting a post you may wish to include a link to an article to avoid this copyright problem.

There are other methods you can use, but I recommend the following;

1. On a separate web page (use file-new-window), navigate to the page you wish to link to.

2. In the address box highlight the full address then press shift-delete, shift-insert (this makes it easy to paste the address).

3. In this step use brackets [] in place of parenthesis () - (If I put them in below the board software would use them)

Switch back to your posting, then type "(url=", press shift insert, then type ")". Now type in the text that you want the link to show and finish off with "(/url)"

4. Continue with the rest of your posting.

EG. To link to http://www.hotmail.com;
(url=www.hotmail.com)Hotmail Link(/url)

The above example will look like this;
Hotmail Link

This is a good method, but remember to swap brackets for parenthesis as mentioned earlier.

Phobos

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Phobos on 2002-08-16 09:53 ]</font>

Maybe they got miles and kilometers mixed up again. Seriously, though. I hate to see NASA loosing probes. Maybe STARDUST will come to the rescue.

__________________
If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the precipitate.

I really don't want to see this the end of CONTOUR, but as already said, maybe Stardust will save us. If CONTOUR never shows up, it will be written in the history books as another lost spacecraft. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

PS: Ok thanks for the tips Phobos and others. I guess this is a good thing BA is more careful about these laws, but I wont do it again as I see it is not a good thing.

-EUROPA [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EUROPA on 2002-08-16 15:08 ]</font>

It's not looking good for CONTOUR, people.

CONTOUR breaks up?

I read in another forum that it might not have broken up.

The second piece could be the rocket engine, which was designed to jettison from the probe after the burn. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but it gives me a little hope. My fingers are crossed...


Kel

Well Hey, that's, "Faster, Better, Cheaper," for you!

Maybe it should be, "Tardy, Worse, Inferior," Instead.

I mean, Sheesh, even when one of 'em uses a Cheap Solution, to an already Solved Problem, they Still can't Make Contact with it, Even If it Does Work!

_________________
If you Ignore YOUR Rights, they Will go away.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ZaphodBeeblebrox on 2002-08-18 04:55 ]</font>

Pick any two! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_evil.gif[/img]

__________________
Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Found it! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/0....ap/index.html



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jigsaw on 2002-08-20 22:39 ]</font>

Found but possibly in pieces - is that good news or bad news? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]

__________________
"As I lay beneath the Southern Cross, the stars tell more than I could" . . . David Meece

Well, at least they can honestly claim that that they didn't actually lose another probe. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Espritch on 2002-08-20 23:59 ]</font>

Oh yeah, The Operation was a Success, but The Patient Died!

__________________
If you Ignore YOUR Rights, they Will go away.

The sad thing is, NASA will again be blamed for doing exactly what the public had demanded. This will be seen as yet another expensive failure on NASA's part, and not as the normal risk of exploration that it really is. The average person doesn't seem to understand that by going to this cheaper approach, NASA actually saved them money. Twenty years ago, this would have been a multi-billion dollar failure, instead of just 160 million.

The Better-Faster-Cheaper idea was to minimize losses by not putting all their eggs in one basket. In truth, the "pick any two" saying is correct, and over the last decade NASA has generally left off "better" when they had to choose. NASA missions today don't pack as much science into each mission, and use more off-the-shelf parts as opposed to custom designs. But in return, we can send out more probes and faster, and we don't loose as much in any one failure.

Actually, I believe in the better, faster, cheaper approach. I think that this really is the way to go in space exploration. It maximizes value for the dollar and is better when the risks are hard to calculate.And I also think that if left alone, NASA will actually learn how to make them "better" as well, maybe not to the level of previous missions, but at least higher quality for the buck.

I am curious though, what the tally has been for missions sent out under this new approach. Have we actually lost more probes than before? Or are we still par for the course? And have we saved money, or lost more compared to the previous years?

__________________
...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere

just quick thinking, what would be the odds of that Molder-tormenting aliens snatched this one ? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Anyways, whatever the outcome, YOU still have to pay for it. (IRS New Year resolution [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img])

Oh and DAvid Hall, i'm sorry to do this (if you are offended) but i looked up your sig and came up with this very funny link : http://www.aps.org/apsnews/0200/020013.html
peace! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

_________________
__
|just don't think that you are getting out of this universe alive.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: poorleno on 2002-08-21 11:23 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: poorleno on 2002-08-21 11:27 ]</font>

Where do you think he got it? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

Speaking of "borrowed" sigs.

"Don't take life seriously. You're not getting out alive."
Bugs Bunny

__________________
Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Nope, no offense taken here. In fact, I freely admit to cribbing my sig from someone else's post. It came from this thread:
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...pic=87&forum=2

__________________
...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere