The Glory Earth observation satellite was designed to help scientists understand how the sun and aerosols affect climate

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

An Earth observation satellite launched by Nasa on Friday morning has failed mid-flight because the nose cone of the rocket carrying it did not detach properly.

The loss of the satellite is the second failure in a row for the Taurus XL rocket, which has been plagued by technical glitches for some time.

The rocket blasted off from Vandenberg airforce base in California at 2.09am local time (10.09 GMT) but was declared a failure by Nasa's launch director, Omar Baez, five minutes later.

The rocket was carrying the Glory observation satellite, which was designed to help scientists understand how the sun and particles of matter in the atmosphere called aerosols affect the Earth's climate.

Also aboard were three smaller satellites called CubeSats designed and built by university and college students.

The rocket is thought to have come down in the ocean.

The US space agency and the rocket's manufacturer, Orbital Sciences, had spent the past two years fixing problems with onboard systems designed to blast the nose cone free of the rocket before it reaches orbit.

The rocket reached an altitude of more than 100 miles and a speed of 9,500 miles per hour before sensors revealed that the nose cone had failed to separate. With the cone still in place, the rocket was too heavy to reach orbit.

The Taurus rocket went into service in 1994 and has put 10 satellites into orbit. The failure today was the third in its history.