Starship Asterisk*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_%28satellite%29 wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF][i]Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought.[/i][/color][/b] - Joan of Arc (King Henry VI, Part i)

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<<The Glory satellite was a planned NASA satellite mission that would have collected data on the chemical, micro-physical and optical properties—and the spatial and temporal distributions—of aerosols, and would have collected solar irradiance data for the long-term climate record.

The science focus areas served by Glory included: atmospheric composition; carbon cycle, ecosystems, and biogeochemistry; climate variability and change; and water and energy cycles.

Launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Taurus XL rocket was originally planned for February 23, 2011, but was postponed due to a malfunction in ground support equipment. The launch took place on March 4, 2011 at 2:09:43 a.m. local time from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Taurus XL rocket's first three stages functioned as planned, but the payload fairing failed to separate 2 minutes 58 seconds after the launch as planned. As a result, the rocket remained too heavy to be able to reach the correct orbit. Soon after wards, launch director Omar Baez announced a contingency. According to him, the satellite and the launcher probably ended up in the Southern Pacific Ocean.The failure was estimated to have cost $424 million. The previous Taurus XL launch with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory had also ended in a failure due to failed payload fairing separation.>>

Beyond wrote:
Hmm...Looks like science is unfairly suffering because of a fairing design that isn't fairing to well.
Do you think they will give it a fair shot and try a third launch using the same failed fairing?

neufer wrote:

All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.