NASA lost contact with the ICON spacecraft worth more than a quarter of a billion dollars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed the loss of communication with the satellite, which cost more than $250 million.

Here's What We Know

The spacecraft in question is the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON). It was put into orbit three years ago, but since the end of November, stopped communicating with the control center. Experts of the space agency believe that the loss of contact was a system failure.

NASA has not made an official statement as to what exactly triggered a loss of communication between the spacecraft and its controllers. Specialists have anticipated such malfunctions and equipped the ICON with a timer that reboots the system in the event of a communication breakdown within eight days. However, rebooting did not help.

The federal agency turned to the U.S. Department of Defense for help. The Pentagon's surveillance network was able to determine that ICON did not come out of orbit, but now the satellite is flying uncontrollably around our planet.

The spacecraft was launched in the fall of 2019. ICON was put into orbit at an altitude of 580 km, from where it observes the upper atmosphere. The mission cost $252 million and is now under an extended program because the original deadline expired a year ago.

Source: NASA