The European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat environmental satellite was lost due to the failure of a Russian Rockot spacecraft, ESA and launch provider Eurockot announced. The Russian State Commission said the mission failed due to an anomaly in the launch sequence.

Preliminary analysis of the telemetry data indicates that the second stage engine failed to shut down due to a missing command from the onboard flight control system. The upper stage then failed to separate from the second stage, and the satellite and launch vehicle stack fell into the ocean north of Greenland. Russian authorities have established an investigation committee that will work with a failure investigation board consisting of Eurockot, ESA and Khrunichev representatives.

CryoSat was designed to study global climate change and determine the cause of the shrinking of the polar ice cap.