A rescue plan is being implemented to salvage the U.S. military's pricy new communications satellite despite a serious malfunction that knocked out its main engine and stymied the craft's maneuvering ability.
The Advanced Extremely High Frequency 1 spacecraft was launched into a preliminary orbit by an Atlas 5 rocket on August 14 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A day after launch during the initial orbit raising burn when the satellite's main engine shut down shortly after ignition for still-unexplained reasons. Another attempt tried August 17 also ended immediately when the engine again failed to generate the expected acceleration.
A makeshift plan has been developed to salvage the mission and AEHF 1 could reach the desired geosynchronous orbit sometime next summer, 7 to 9 months later than scheduled.
You can read more details on this story at
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av019/100830orbit.html
