Russian recovery teams completed a second fruitless day on Thursday of searches near a great Russian river for two innovative inflatable reentry heat shields launched two days ago, even though most experts believe that both devices did their job of returning cargo to Earth.
Earlier unconfirmed reports about finding one of the spacecraft proved incorrect.
The two inflatable shields were launched Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket as payloads in addition to the primary test of the new Fregat upper stage, designed for commercial flights. One of the heat shields was to return the Fregat vehicle to Earth.
The Fregat performed flawlessly in the orbit, said representatives of Starsem, the company that finances it.
Search teams concentrated on areas south and west of the city of Orenburg in southern Russia, along the border with Kazakstan.
Experts believe that transmitters on the spacecraft probably malfunctioned, forcing the recovery team to rely solely on a visual search, said Robin Zell, the representative of DaimlerChrysler AG, the company that developed the heat shields project in cooperation with Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin.
The effort was hampered for two days by extremely bad weather that included high winds, clouds as low as 9,845 feet (3,000 meters) and snow, said Konstantin Pichkhadze, NPO Lavochkin project manager.
Pichkhadze is coordinating the recovery efforts from Lavochkin's offices in Moscow.
DaimlerChrysler representatives confirmed that up to 1.5 yards (1.5 meters) of snow accumulated on the ground about the time the spacecraft landed, however it started melting today. At the same time, higher temperatures created heavy fog in the area, further complicating search efforts.
Despite bad weather and the absence of signals from the spacecraft, experts are optimistic about finding both devices since radar data confirmed that they survived a fiery reentry. Both heat shields are equipped with radar reflectors which could not be seen on the radar screen unless the reentry shields inflated, Zell said.
Russian ground facilities tracked the reentry devices to an altitude of 50 miles (80 kilometers), when communication was no longer possible due to layers of plasma surrounding the spacecraft.
Later, however, ground radar picked up the signals from chaff (small pieces of metal), which the spacecraft likely released at an altitude of 15 to 19 miles (25 to 30 kilometers) for the purposes of detection by radar.
"We are evaluating all the radar data trying to pinpoint the exact location for the landing," Pichkhadze said.
DaimlerChrysler representatives involved in the search said the two spacecraft were only about 3 miles (5 kilometers) apart when they landed, Zell said.
There is a slight possibility that the spacecraft ended up in the Ural River, which is partially frozen at this time of year. Ironically, the inflatable reentry shields, which were designed for compactness and low costs, should, even with their cargo, be able to float, Lavochkin experts believe.
"Unless radar data proves to be incorrect, we will continue our search on the ground or in the river," Pichkhadze said.
During an air search on Thursday, pilots spotted what appeared to be a landing site. However, recovery vehicles could not reach it due to the bad weather and coming darkness. The effort to reach the site will resume early Friday.
The search area now is narrowed to only several miles (kilometers), Lavochkin and DaimlerChrysler representatives said.
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