Red faces at EU as satellite appears on wrong orbit

[Europa]

European space officials say they're investigating whether the inaccurate deployment of two satellites will complicate their efforts to develop a new Galileo satellite navigation system that would rival America's GPS network.

The European Space Agency said the satellites ended up in off-target orbits after launching last Friday from French Guiana, aboard a Soyuz rocket.

The statement did not explain the difference between the satellites' intended and actual orbits, or whether their orbital paths could be corrected. The EU hopes to have its 30-satellite Galileo navigation network operating fully by 2020.

- See more at: Red faces at EU as satellite appears on wrong orbit - Independent.ie

 

[TheNoob]

LOL This is hilarious

 

[livingdead]

LOL This is hilarious

sh*t happens.. you cant always have perfect launch.

 

[mike2000]

Geez, seems China's Beidou will be ready before ours.
WHts happening with Russia soyuz rockets these days? Even Indias PSLV rockets seem to be more reliable than them.

 

[MarkusS]

We can only blame ourself. How retarded is it to outscource this to the russians. I think it was deliberate sabotage. Given the current state of affairs between EU and Russia my guess is that russia did this intentional to damage us.

 

[F-22Raptor]

The Russian space industry has taken a nosedive in recent years. Given the rampant corruption it comes as no surprise. It's why our commercial flight program needs to be up and running as soon as possible.

 

[UKBengali]

We can only blame ourself. How retarded is it to outscource this to the russians. I think it was deliberate sabotage. Given the current state of affairs between EU and Russia my guess is that russia did this intentional to damage us.

Makes little sense as this damages Russia's reputation and does little damage to EU.

This was an accident and nothing else.

 

[MarkusS]

Makes little sense as this damages Russia's reputation and does little damage to EU.

This was an accident and nothing else.

It delays our galileo network and in worst case we must build two new satellites. Of course insurance pays this but this "accident" shows that it is laughable to let an enemy nation do this for us. Who will send the next galileo satellites into space? North Korea? We have own Vega and Ariane rockets.

 

[SenLin]

It delays our galileo network and in worst case we must build two new satellites. Of course insurance pays this but this "accident" shows that it is laughable to let an enemy nation do this for us. Who will send the next galileo satellites into space? North Korea? We have own Vega and Ariane rockets.

Yes we have our own rockets, but launching them is too expensive, so we use mostly the Russian ones.
Arianespace, isn't nearly as cost-efficient compared to America's SpaceX. We must do something about that.

 

[ptldM3]

We can only blame ourself. How retarded is it to outscource this to the russians. I think it was deliberate sabotage. Given the current state of affairs between EU and Russia my guess is that russia did this intentional to damage us.

The rocket was operated by Arianspace which is not Russian, hence it was not outsourced to Russia. All of the planning, which included trajectory, fuel, and release sequence was done by Arianspace.

By the way with all that smack you have been talking about the Russian Space agency you have to realize that Russia has launched 21 rockets so far this year, while Europe has launched.....wait for it..........a whopping 4 launches. by sheer launches Russia will have more failures not only in numbers but because there is less time to prepare and inspect the launch vehicle.

 

[Cyberian]

These two satellites have already launched after a long delay and now this happens. Hope they sort it out.

 

[notgoodenough]

Thanks for posting some actual facts not like that mongoloid troll. The Rocket was purchased from Russia. Everything else, was done by the europeans and they are the ones who fucked up. The eu is finished. By 2020 they will have to worry about much more than gps. With rising uneployment and triple dip recessions in italy and germany, they wont even have money for rockets. Theyll be lucky to be still building cars.

The rocket was operated by Arianspace which is not Russian, hence it was not outsourced to Russia. All of the planning, which included trajectory, fuel, and release sequence was done by Arianspace.

By the way with all that smack you have been talking about the Russian Space agency you have to realize that Russia has launched 21 rockets so far this year, while Europe has launched.....wait for it..........a whopping 4 launches. by sheer launches Russia will have more failures not only in numbers but because there is less time to prepare and inspect the launch vehicle.