A flagship European Earth observation satellite has been struck by a second computer glitch and cannot send its scientific data down to the ground.
The Goce spacecraft is on a mission to make the most precise maps yet of how gravity varies across the globe.
In February, a processor fault forced operators to switch the satellite over to its back-up computer system.
This too has now developed a problem and engineers are toiling to make the spacecraft fully functional again.
The European Space Agency (Esa) remains confident the situation can be recovered, however.
"There's no doubt about it: we're in a difficult situation, but we are not without ideas," Goce mission manager Dr Rune Floberghagen told BBC News.
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Only last year, Esa lost the use of an instrument on its billion-euro Herschel space telescope but still managed to find a way to bring it back online even though engineers were separated from the malfunctioning hardware by more than a million kilometres of space.
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
For full story visit www.bbc.co.uk
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