Editing Envisat (section)

=== Loss of contact ===
[[ESA]] announced on 12 April 2012 that they lost contact with Envisat on Sunday, 8 April 2012, after 10 years of service, exceeding the initially planned life span by 5 years.  The spacecraft was still in a stable orbit, but attempts to contact it were unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1204/12envisat/ |title=Breaking News {{pipe}} Flagship Envisat satellite stops communicating |publisher=Spaceflight Now |access-date=21 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQ2EHWP0H_index_0.html |title=ESA Portal – Envisat services interrupted |publisher=Esa.int |access-date=21 April 2012}}</ref> Ground-based radar and the French [[Pleiades (satellite)|Pleiades]] Earth probe were used to image the silent Envisat and look for damage.<ref>[http://www.space.com/15369-mysteriously-silent-envisat-satellite-space-photos.html Huge, Mysteriously Silent Satellite Spotted by Another Spacecraft] Space.com article, 20 April 2012</ref> ESA formally announced the end of Envisat's mission on 9 May 2012.<ref name="missionend" />

Envisat was launched in 2002 and it operated five years beyond its planned mission lifetime, delivering over a [[petabyte]] of data.<ref name="missionend"/> ESA was expecting to turn off the spacecraft in 2014.
<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17692027 Contact lost with flagship Envisat spacecraft] 12 April 2012.</ref>