Posted: Sat, Jun 20, 2015, 11:39 AM ET (1539 GMT)
A four-year-old Earth sciences satellite developed by the United States and Argentina has failed in orbit, NASA announced this week. The Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC)-D satellite, built by Argentina and carrying a NASA science instrument called Aquarius, suffered a malfunction of hardware that controls the spacecraft's power and attitude control systems on June 8, and the spacecraft was declared lost June 17. SAC-D/Aquarius launched in June 2011 on a Delta 2 on a three-year mission to study the salinity of the ocean surface. The spacecraft completed its prime mission last November, but continued to operate and had a five-year design life.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  NASA press release