The two European satellite navigation system Galileo yesterday launched a Soyuz rocket with an abnormality in orbit yet undetermined implications for their mission, today announced the European Space Agency (ESA).
Arianespace, responsible for the launch and in-orbit satellites, acknowledged in a statement early this morning that the “additional comments collected after separation” Soyuz “bring out a difference between the expected and achieved orbit” for Galileo FOC M1 .
The European consortium rocket had been brought hours before 3 hours and 47 minutes after liftoff the shuttle base in Kourou (French Guyana) at 12.27 GMT, satellites had come into its orbit and everything had elapsed according to schedule.
The ESA, in a separate statement, said that in view of the anomaly observed last night, teams of industrial and agencies involved “are investigating the potential implications for the mission.”
He insisted that both satellites are safely controlled by its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and there will be information about his condition “after preliminary analysis of the situation.”
With a weight of 714.3 and 715.3 kilos respectively, are the first two operational Galileo satellites device, which is in addition to four experimental orbited in 2011 and 2012.
The final constellation of the European satellite navigation system will comprise 24 which, according to the ESA program, should be ready in 2017 and which will add six parts.
The European Commission (EC) has invested some 13 billion euros in the Galileo program (devised in 1998 but has since been delayed and on-costs), although part of that budget rests with the predecessor Egnoss, which came service in 2009 and improves the accuracy of GPS.
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