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A satellite built to observe infrared light from newborn stars in distant
galaxies has spun out of control. The Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE)
blasted off on 4 March. As soon as it hit orbit, however, NASA mission
controllers discovered that a leak of hydrogen from its cooling system was
causing the craft to spin at 60 revolutions per minute. The spin began to
stabilise over the weekend, and as Â鶹´«Ã½ went to press, engineers were
working to slow it down still further. But the satellite is already useless: the
lost hydrogen was needed to cool WIRE’s infrared detectors.