This satellite hitched a ride on the Dragon cargo spacecraft during its launch to the space station, but failed to enter orbit
The ORBCOMM OG2 satellite launched as a secondary payload aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on October 7, the same rocket whose primary payload was the private Dragon spacecraft carrying supplies to the space station, returned to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
The ORBCOMM OG2 satellite which was a prototype of a communication satellite was launched into the wrong orbit as a result of the influence of pre-planned tests required by NASA. This was due to a drop in pressure in one of the rocket's engines, the mission personnel had to turn it off and thus it did not perform the second ignition for safety reasons and the satellite remained in a lower orbit than planned.
"The safety inspection is designed to protect the International Space Station and its crew," Orbcom says. "Had our satellite been the main mission of the rocket, as expected in subsequent launches, we believe that the OG2 prototype would have reached the planned trajectory.
The company takes solace in the fact that while the satellite was in low orbit, they were able to test some of its equipment, including the antenna and some basic devices, and they were successfully activated.
