A rocket carrying a NASA satellite designed to study global warming from space crashed in the ocean near Antarctica after a failed launch early Tuesday.

The Taurus XL rocket carrying the $278 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) blasted off at 4:55 a.m EST (9:55 a.m. GMT) on Tuesday from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. However, the fairing on the rocket, a cover that protected the satellite as it flew through the atmosphere, failed to separate from the rocket as expected.

The initial indications showed that the vehicle did not have enough lift to reach orbit and "landed just short of Antarctica in the ocean," John Brunschwyler, project manager for the Taurus XL, told a media briefing.

"Our whole team at a very personal level is disappointed in the events of this morning," he said. "It's very hard."

Brunschwyler said the first sign of trouble occurred about three minutes after liftoff, when the rocket's telemetry showed no sign it had shed its clamshell-like fairing. Once the fairing separates, launch controllers would have seen the satellite and its upper stage accelerate faster since the rocket would have shed the excess weight. But that speed boost never occurred.