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Published online 10 October 2005 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news051010-3
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CryoSat mission lost
Rocket failure dumps ice-monitoring satellite into Arctic Ocean.
A European Space Agency satellite that was designed to measure receding ice at the Earth's poles was destroyed shortly after it launched on 8 October, due to an unusual launch rocket malfunction.
Scientists hoped that CryoSat, which cost €135 million (US$160 million), would be able to measure the thickness of polar ice to within a few centimetres.
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