Watery end for stranded satellite

Astra 1K, now in the Pacific Ocean

By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor

The world's largest communications satellite has been ditched into the sea, two weeks after a Russian rocket failed to put it into the correct orbit.

Satellite controllers used the Astra 1K's engines to plunge it into the southern Pacific Ocean, says Russian space forces spokesman Vyacheslav Davidyenko.

The Astra 1K was the largest communications satellite ever built.

It was manufactured by the Ses-Astra corporation for Society European Des Satellites of Luxembourg and weighed nearly six tonnes.

Industry setback

The French-made satellite was rendered useless following its 26 November launch on a Russian Proton rocket.

The launch went wrong when an upper stage booster unit failed to push the satellite into its intended orbit.

At almost 6 tonnes it was the largest ever built

The Astra 1K should have been put in a geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km (23,000 miles) above the Earth.

Its owners later established partial control over the satellite but told BBC News Online it would never be able to carry out its main mission of handling signals for radio, television, mobile telephones and the internet.

The failure is a setback for Russia's satellite-launching programme.

It follows the 15 October explosion of another Russian rocket, also carrying a satellite, half a minute after lift-off.