Ongoing investigations...

Over the last week, we have been closely studying the data retrieved from the TSU, including detailed data from the length sensors (OLDs) and also some MASS data. The MASS data will tell us mostly about the initial conditions after ejection, so far it seems pretty nominal. More interesting however at this point is the raw data of the length sensors. We are hoping it can tell us why the deployment stopped or seemed to have stopped at 8.5 km. This data has to be combined with information from NORAD (who did not spot MASS nor Fotino in orbit after the mission) and with information from Foton and the DIMAC (accelerometers/magnetometers) payload.

The point of interest is that the above are rather consistently converging to a scenario where a lot of OLD interrupts have been falsely rejected by the On Board Computer. If this were true, the tether would have deployed fully, rather nominally, but not decelerated near the end, as the computer was under the impression that the deployment had stopped already. This may have caused quite a shock just before Fotino release. Fotino would then have deorbited close-to-nominal time (and place) near the Kazakhi-Siberian border. Whether Fotino survived under these conditions is an open question: we have not received any data from ARGOS.

As we say, it is an ongoing investigation and as yet the exact length deployed still needs to be confirmed, we keep you informed. The full picture will appear only in December when we have access to all data that is currently being recovered from the Foton re-entry capsule.