The two telecommunications satellites on board the European Ariane 5 which took off from French Guiana, was put into orbit, not the right place.
The two telecommunications satellites on board the European Ariane 5 which took off Thursday from French Guiana, was put into orbit, but not in the right place.
Arianespace however hoped a future “repositioning of the satellites in the right place with their propulsion system.”
“The latest news was reassuring after strong concerns” added the company that markets the launches.
Big scare indeed for his first start of the year. Shortly after the start of the operation, the CEO of Arianespace Stéphane Israel announced since the Jupiter room Kourou space center , an “anomaly” and reports a “loss of contact with the pitcher.”
Loss of contact, “a little over nine minutes” after takeoff and “a few seconds after ignition of the upper stage” and lasted “from the 9th to the 37th minute of the mission,” Arianespace said in a statement.
From that moment, the “second station” in mission control “located in Natal, Brazil, has not acquired the launcher telemetry,” further notes Arianespace.
The situation was the same at the Ascencion station, on an island in the South Atlantic (supposed to collect data 13 minutes and 36 seconds after liftoff) to that Libreville, Gabon (18 minutes and 19 seconds after off) and that near the town of Malindi in Kenya (22 minutes and 56 seconds after liftoff).
If “thereafter, the two satellites were confirmed separated, acquired and put into orbit,” the statement said Arianespace “They were not separated at the point where they would have to be” .
Images of the Earth disc
The European rocket took off as planned Thursday to 7.20 pm local time (11.20 pm in Paris time), from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, carrying two telecommunications satellites, SES-14 for Luxembourg operator SES and Al Yah 3 Yahsat, the operator UAE.
The SES-14 also hosts a scientific support for the exploration of NASA titled GOLD (Global-scale observation of the Limb and Disk), a program that should make it possible, from a geostationary orbit to reconstruct all half hour a complete picture of the terrestrial disk.
Built by Airbus Defense and Space in Toulouse , ITS-14, a little over 4.4 tonnes at takeoff, is the 53rd satellite operator SES (Société Européenne de Satellites) to be launched by Arianespace since 1984, Arianespace said.
Built by Orbital ATK, Al Yah 3, a takeoff weight close to 3.8 tons is the second satellite to be carried to the operator Yahsat (Al Yah Satellite Communications), after a first launch in 2011.
