The problem appeared to be "an issue with a propellant valve, " SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra said.
Simply put, you cannot get enough propellant on board to attain useful flight duration.
The Jules Verne was filled with 3, 490kg of propellant for rendezvous, re-boost and de-orbit manoeuvres.
The ESA-supported project started in 2005, and would use a propellant based on liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
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The spacecraft will have enough propellant left after the extended mission to potentially allow a third phase of operations.
Made from carbon fiber, the Vega uses a solid propellant which gives it faster speeds than the Ariane 5.
Yet the ability to stir up that kind of excitement, among consumers, at least, is the propellant in Apple's rocket.
Both propulsion systems produce only small amounts of thrust but are very efficient in terms of how much "propellant" they consume.
The rockets were like stacked metal cans stuffed with highly explosive propellant.
Rubber o-rings lined those joints and kept burning propellant from leaking out.
The flame from the burning propellant appears as a solid white mark.
Common uses for black powder include as gunpowder in muzzle-loading guns, as a blasting powder and as a propellant in rockets for fireworks.
But the propellant that launches projectiles from gun barrels is not.
It would take off horizontally from a runway and go straight to orbit without the need for the multiple propellant stages seen in today's throw-away launchers.
Beyond this 200-day limit, the confidence in the performance of the vehicle drops off, and in particular in the status of the propellant in their manoeuvring thrusters.
But some are also thought to harbour water ice, which could be used as a raw material for the manufacture of rocket propellant or even breathable air.
We had considered making a cannon that used ignited hair spray as a propellant but after a bit of research discovered that air pressure was far more effective.
After setting a record mission rate of seven flights in 2009, launch attempts in the early months of this year experienced a series of frustrating postponements as engineers grappled with a faulty pressure regulator on the rocket's propellant system.
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