UK climate satellite suffers failure in orbit

An innovative UK climate satellite has failed in orbit just six months after launch.

HotSat-1 was put up to map heat loss from buildings and was doing so successfully until its camera stopped working earlier this week, BBC reports.

SatVu, the London company behind the mission, does not expect to restore operations even though engineers are still in contact with the spacecraft.

The satellite was fully insured and a replacement will be flown in 2025.

Chief executive Anthony Baker described the loss as a major disappointment but said his team would come back stronger.

"The satellite was working fantastically, the data was great and the customers were super-excited. To trip up now is deeply frustrating but we've proved the principle and that puts us in a really strong position for the future," he told BBC News.

The idea was to identify properties that were wasting energy through their heat signatures and then alert the owners to solutions that could save them money and reduce their carbon emissions.