Galileo really did not need this. Friday night, a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center portion near Kourou placed on too low orbit two satellites of the European GPS program. Advantage of the new Soyuz launch pad in French Guiana, the launcher of Russian design, the most used and most reliable in the world, operated normally during most of the flight. Only at the end of the mission that things did not go as planned, without the cause is yet known precisely.
VIDEO. Relive the first few minutes of the launch Friday:
“An anomaly may have occurred during the flight phase of the Fregat upper stage (after the separation of the lower floors, Ed), leading to an injection of satellites in orbit improper, “according to Arianespace. Tragic irony was not positioned a system of free, with an error of more than 6 000 kilometers … Some experts suggest a programming error of the guidance system, or poor orientation of the module during the second firing engine during the last phase of flight. The latter case, most likely, would explain why the engineers did not immediately notice the error: the engines are turned on at the scheduled time and for the specified time.
Avoid complete failure
Even if they have a system self-propulsion, satellites and Milena Doresa have very limited reserves of propellant, which are provided only to keep them position for their lifetime. If the satellites are stable, send data to Earth and meet the commands sent from ground stations, it is very unlikely that Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) can replace them on their original orbit. And even if they succeeded, it would probably spell the end of very early death of these items EUR 40 million each, which then could not be maintained in their orbits a few short years.
VIDEO. The deployment of Galileo satellites explained by ESA (English):
The dilemma is terrible: should we put satellites at best, even if that they change very quickly in space junk, or should we find them useful in their current orbit? Brains currently heat with ESA to avoid a complete failure. The decision is all the more difficult that Galileo is in a critical situation. Worn at arms length by the European Commission despite austerity policies, this strategic program for technological independence of Europe is very expensive: € 7 billion, 100% funded by Brussels. What do cringe, especially with delays and recurring incremental …
A vital program for Europe
If c ‘ Arianespace is who is responsible for the injection of the satellite in its proper orbit, it now belongs to the ESA to decide the fate of the two satellites. Maintaining or not the next Soyuz launches, including one in December carrying two Galileo satellites from French Guiana, depend on the results of the survey, and the first report to be submitted in mid-September.
The Galileo program is to enable Europe to overcome the American military GPS system with a more modern model and therefore more accurate for military and civilians. Its satellites are higher than those of GPS, Galileo will have strong arguments to sell, because thanks to this higher tilt angle, users will be less “blinded” by the buildings in town for example. Galileo satellites are also equipped with the best atomic clocks ever used in navigation, with an accuracy of one second in three million years. The gradual implementation of Galileo, scheduled between late 2014 and 2018, there was a delay of at least six months, according to experts.
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