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Solar observatory slips out of Kalpana Chawla's hands

Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts struggled in vain to capture a sun-watching satellite after the craft malfunctioned within moments of its release.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration quickly lost any chance of conducting solar observations with the satellite, now or later in the mission. The space agency still wanted the satellite back, however, for the trip home.

Mission control told the astronauts yesterday that they might have to perform a spacewalk tomorrow night to grab the 1,350-kg satellite with their gloved hands. The crew's two designated spacewalkers were trained before the flight for just such an emergency.

The orbital drama began a few minutes after astronaut Kalpana Chawla released the satellite.

Realising it wasn't turning the way it should, Chawla tried to grab the satellite with Columbia's 15-metre robot arm. But the arm would not latch onto the satellite, and when she pulled back on the arm, she inadvertently sent the craft into a slow spin.

Columbia stayed at a safe distance from the $ 10 million reusable satellite, but within grabbing distance, as the two spacecraft zoomed around the earth.

"We're trying the best we can,'' pilot Steven Lindsey assured mission control.

Chawla waited for the grapple fixture on the satellite to face the robot arm before trying to latch onto it again. Mission control, meanwhile, debated what to do as the minutes slipped by.

After an hour, flight controllers instructed the six astronauts to give up, at least for the day. By that time, NASA had lost any chance of performing solar observations later in the flight since an internal clock shut down the pointing system for good 60 minutes after the satellite's release.

Commander Kevin Kregel pushed for more time as he tried to line up the two spacecraft, saying the satellite was close and easily accessible. But eventually, he had to stop chasing the satellite as the shuttle fuel reserves dwindled. He steered the ship away.

Chawla released the Spartan satellite -- a five-foot cube with the ends of an 11-foot telescope protruding from opposite sides -- with ease. It was supposed to perform a pirouette within 90 seconds to demonstrate its systems were working, but never did.

"We plan to regrapple,'' Chawla immediately informed mission control. Flight rules dictate that the satellite be retrieved immediately if no pirouette is performed. The cause of the malfunction was not immediately known.

Because the telescope door opened following the satellite's release, engineers believe some systems were working, said mission control commentator Rob Navias.

"However, whether the satellite can right itself so that it can stop its rotational spin or whether or not it is a dead satellite in orbit is not known at this point,'' he added.

Spartan was supposed to observe for two days the sun's ionised outer atmosphere, known as the corona, and the solar wind, the charged particles hurtling from the sun. The solar wind can disrupt radio communications and power stations on earth.

If all had gone well, Columbia's US, Japanese and Ukrainian crew will retrieve Spartan with the shuttle robot arm tomorrow night and then geared up for a spacewalk on Monday night to test equipment for the future international space station. The 16-day mission ends on December 5.

Chawla, the first Indian-born woman in space, is making her maiden spaceflight.

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