![[Imagemap]](/TECH/images/nav_tech.gif){kind=small}
February 26, 1996
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EST
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- The failed Columbia space shuttle electricity-generating experiment has left NASA engineers extremely disappointed as they begin searching for clues to what went wrong.
NASA officials, trying to be accepting, refused to speculate on why a half-ton metal satellite and its 12-mile-long leash broke free Sunday night from the shuttle Columbia. But they promised to find out what caused the problem.
Within minutes after breaking away, the satellite and its shoestring-thin leash were 18 miles away from Columbia; within hours, they had strayed hundreds of miles away, and the multi-million-dollar device was lost in space. The satellite eventually will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The wayward satellite, which was drifting at a speed of about 100 mph, posed no danger to the shuttle and its seven astronauts. The shuttle is due to return March 7.
"If you don't ever get your nose bloodied, you're not in the game. We got our nose bloodied this time," said lead flight director Chuck Shaw, paraphrasing a Theodore Roosevelt saying. (255K AIFF sound or 255K WAV sound)
Shaw said NASA was frustrated, but that researchers understand science isn't just a win-win situation; sometimes they're "going to lose." (204K AIFF sound or 204K WAV sound)
NASA has ordered all data impounded as part of the investigation. Shaw called everything "suspect at this point." He said NASA scientists are combing through evidence as if it were a crime scene. (143K AIFF sound or 143K WAV sound)
For American and Italian researchers who had poured years of intensive research into the $442-million mission, the loss of the tethered satellite system was devastating. It was the second failed attempt to tow a satellite through space.
An earlier try in 1992 failed when the tether got caught on a safety bolt in the reel after extending to a length of only about 800 feet.
"There is ... intense disappointment," said Nobie Stone, a NASA mission scientist.
The satellite deployment was the centerpiece of a project to generate electricity in space. Once extended, the Italian-made satellite was to sweep through Earth's magnetic field at the end of a thin cable, just one-tenth of an inch wide.
The satellite was to have flown free of the shuttle for two days before astronauts reeled it back in. Scientists hoped to prove that such a system could be used to power space stations or drop packages from space to Earth.
At 3:45 p.m. EST Sunday, the Columbia crew started unreeling the cable at a cautious speed of less than 0.02 mph. It was expected to take about 5.5 hours to fully extend the multi-layered cable to its full length of 12.8 miles.
There were a few surprises as the tether unwound throughout the day, but nothing serious, according to NASA officials. The tether was almost fully extended when the break occurred inside a 40-foot tower in the shuttle cargo bay.
"The tether has broken at the boom! The tether has broken! It is going away from us!" was astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman's urgent message.
If the cord had snapped higher up, the portion remaining attached to Columbia might have gone out of control and possibly even wrapped around the shuttle, scientists said.
After the tether broke, the shuttle crew remained in a holding pattern to gather data for subsequent analysis of the failed project. Ground controllers verified after a few anxious moments that the satellite and its tether posed no danger.
Astronauts later said the tether appeared frayed and stripped and noted that its outer coating of nylon and Teflon looked charred and melted. The satellite and cord were generating about 3,500 volts of electricity -- enough power to charge a subway car-- as they swept through Earth's magnetic field.
The experiment had been postponed Saturday because of computer problems.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.