Sunday, August 24, 2014


European Satellite Problems


Galileo satellite artist impression

Two satellites meant to form part of Europe's Galileo navigation system - a rival to the American GPS – have been launched into the wrong orbit, it emerged Saturday.

It was not immediately clear whether the satellites, launched using a Russian-built Soyuz rocket on Friday, could use their on-board propulsion systems to move into the correct orbit, nor what the impact on their ability to function would be if they could not be moved.

The European Space Agency (ESA) had initially said the launch from Kourou in French Guyana had been successful. But Arianespace, the firm overseeing the launch, revealed the error in a statement released Saturday.
It's currently unknown whether the satellite trajectories can be corrected.

1 comment:

Doom said...

Hmm... Europeans are trusting Russians to launch satellites to compete with America. It's called all good by the governments involved until the company doing the application tells the truth.

I don't see how anything could possibly have gone wrong. No-thing. Nothing. There is naive and there is just plain stupid. This operation isn't even on a sliding scale thing. Isn't Europe currently saber rattling about Russian involvement in the Ukraine? Isn't Russia, and her dictator, known for being petty?

Look, mom, no hands. Look, mom, no teeth. Yum!

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