ESA declares huge Envisat satellite dead in space

The European Space Agency declared the death of its massive Earth-observing satellite Envisat Wednesday after a month of mysterious silence from the school bus-size spacecraft. Envisat is the world's largest Earth-watching satellite for civilian use, with ESA officials touting its 10th anniversary in space earlier this year. The $2.9 billion satellite was originally designed to snap high-resolution photos of Earth for five years, but managed to last 10 years during its successful mission. More

(Source: MSNBC - May 11)