- Glory and the rocket carrying it plummeted into the Pacific Ocean
- Satellite's previous launch was abandoned five minutes before take-off
A rocket carrying the Glory Earth-observing satellite launched yesterday but failed to place the satellite into orbit, sending both plummeting into the Pacific.
Nasa said a protective covering on the Taurus XL rocket did not separate as planned three minutes after launch at 2.09am local time (10.09 GMT).
With the covering intact, the rocket was too heavy to get the satellite into orbit.
Nasa launch commentator George Dillar announced the failure 15 minutes after lift-off from Vandenberg Air Force base in California.
Launch director Omar Baez said: 'We failed to make orbit and all indications are that the satellite and rocket are in the South Pacific Ocean somewhere.'
The satellite and rocket were built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences, which suffered a similar failure with a Taurus XL rocket in 2009 on another Nasa launch.
After that failure, Orbital Sciences redesigned the system for shedding the protective covering.
Ron Grabe of Orbital Sciences said the company considered the problem to be fixed and had carried out three successful launches with the new system before yesterday's failure.
Orbital Sciences has been expected to be among the private companies that will be used to get cargo to the International Space Station once Nasa retires its shuttle fleet.
The Glory satellite was to have provided scientists information on how the sun and atmospheric particles called aerosols affected Earth's climate.
The satellite had been scheduled for launch on February 24 but was delayed by a last minute computer problem.
Glory was launched on a planned three-year mission to analyse how airborne particles affect Earth's climate.
The $424million mission is managed by the Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Besides monitoring particles in the atmosphere, Glory was also designed to track solar radiation to determine the sun's effect on climate change.
Data from the mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect the Earth's climate.
Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet's energy budget - the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth's atmosphere.
An accurate measurement of these impacts is important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life.
Nasa suffered a mishap two years ago when a global warming satellite also destined to join the Earth-observation network crashed into the ocean near Antarctica after launching from the same kind of rocket that carried Glory.
An accident board was formed to investigate and corrective action was taken to prevent future problems. A duplicate is now scheduled to fly from Vandenberg in 2013.
