That Awkward Moment: US Air Force Stops Recovery Mission of Lost Satellite

A US weather satellite has been deemed lost, as the Air Force stopped trying to recover it following an unsuccessful operation initiated last month, Spacenews reported.

Operators lost the ability to command the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19 last month. Since then the US Air Force has been trying to fix the problem and recover the spacecraft, but all their attempts have been in vain.

"Operators ceased all recovery efforts," said Andy Roake, a spokesman for Air Force Space Command, as cited by Spacenews.

Spacecraft operators suddenly lost control of the Lockheed Martin built satellite on February 11.

The weather satellite worked to predict bad weather, including fog, thunderstorms and hurricanes that could impact US military operations.

The satellite was sent into orbit on April 2014 and was supposed to serve five years. It was the newest Air Force weather satellite in space.

US General John Hyten, the head of Air Force Space Command, ordered a safety investigation board to take a closer look at the incident and see if more information could be found to find out what could have caused the accident.

Meanwhile, in the absence of the Flight 19 satellite a much older spacecraft has been re-assigned the task of gathering information on cloud imagery.