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2 Galileo Satellites Launched To Wrong Orbit
As reported by the BBC, two satellites meant to form part of the EU's Galileo global positioning network have been launched into a wrong, lower orbit, and it is unclear whether they can be salvaged. NASASpaceFlight.com has a more detailed account of the launch, which says [D]espite the Arianespace webcast noting no issue with the launch, it was later admitted the satellites were lofted into the wrong orbit. “Following the announcement made by Arianespace on the anomalies of the orbit injection of the Galileo satellites, the teams of industries and agencies involved in the early operations of the satellites are investigating the potential implications on the mission,” noted a short statement, many hours after the event. It is unlikely the satellites can be eased into their correct orbit, even with a large extension to their transit time. However, ESA are not classing the satellites as lost at this time. “Both satellites have been acquired and are safely controlled and operated from ESOC, ESA’s Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany,” the Agency added.
Over the course of the next "year or so," an additional 24 satellites are slated to complete the Galileo constellation, to be launched by a mixed slate of Ariane and Soyuz rockets.
If you want space done right go American.
Just killing some kerbals
Guessing its more likely a MiB (2**20) vs. MB (10**6) type issue. Thanks, Western Digital and Hitachi marketers!
KABOOM!
The people involved with this project are muckers, top to bottom. Despite the name someone chose for this, I personally had nothing to do with it. During my lifetime I worked diligently on the creation of two sciences, mechanics and astronomy, so I know something about the issues involved here.
BTW can anyone shoot me a pizza down here? I haven't eaten anything solid in almost 400 years.
- G. Galilei
Conspiracy theory notwithstanding, these things cost money as does their launch. That sort of mistake will mean that some folks are being fired.
Just wait for the satellites to be overhead.
I thought that all satellites launched now are required to have reserve fuel to reach graveyard orbit. Wouldn't that fuel also be able to position the satellites in their originally intended orbits?
Maybe they should have used GPS :>
Surely they mean "lifted"?
... Low Orbit Ion Canon.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
I'll never understand these idiotic mistakes made by space agencies.
Remember when the spirit rover mission almost failed because they never did a real test of the OS's file system?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
After I heard about that, all I could think of was "Why would you spend billions of dollars on something, send it to mars, and never simulate the trip to see if the OS would have a problem?"
assuming that these two birds were never intended for their advertised purpose, what is their actual purpose? Don't spend too much time on this one because the correct answer is pretty obvious.
if they had used Engrish units this never would have happened.
GPS still going strong.
This will for sure mess up the constellation, which is designed to minimize the times where some places on Earth do not have 4 satellites above the horizon, and also the places where this is going to happen (i.e., coverage gaps over the far South Pacific are likely to be more acceptable than over Northern Europe) . Since these satellites are too low, they will have shorter periods and will thus not be commensurable with the existing constellation, and will drift in and out of place.
You can be sure ESA engineers are busily looking at orbits this weekend, to see what can be salvaged from this debacle. Now, they may be really lucky, and have gotten an orbit where these two satellites can be used to fill a hole in the current constellation. I would bet in that case that both satellites would serve to fill the spots normally filled by one satellite; so at best only one, but if (as is more likely) they are unlucky, two satellites will have to be launched to fill the gaps.
In other words, while these satellites are not a loss, and will be used, new launches are likely to be necessary to make the constellation whole, which will cost as much as if they were lost.
Maybe they forgot to use Metric? Oh wait, the satellites would have ended up in Martian orbit if they had done that.
Maybe the SpaceX folks can test their quick turn around capability with a couple of satellite capture missions that push those puppies higher.
Most major GPS chip sets now actively filter pulsar noise. The thing about pulsars is they are better clocks than what is being launched and they transmit on all frequencies. The ephemeris calculations are much harder but it has be used to 2 meter accuracy and it isn't even limited to working just around earth. I wonder why they spent so much money to duplicate two existing systems that weren't even state of the art when they started. Maybe it was because you can't license pulsar transmissions.
This is what they get for not using a GPS. It's not rocket science!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
It's always interesting to see what rationalizations the rich and powerful have for spending taxpayers money. From the BBC article:
"Galileo will bring significant returns to European economies in the form of new businesses that can exploit precise timing and location data delivered from orbit."
--- As if such new businesses couldn't come into being while using existing GPS satellites.
"It should deepen and extend high-value markets already initiated by GPS"
--- This is, as all will immediately realize, pure marketing-speak BS and devoid of any content whatsoever.
*nm*
Is this the space version of Controlled Flight Into Terrain? All the other mishaps I can recall were equipment failures, barring the satellite collision.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
Unlike existing GPS, Galileo has an interactive "search and rescue" function that can interact with the unit on the ground.
Given how infrequently this would be useful in the grand scheme of things - and the likely higher power requirements over passive GPS - the paranoid person in me wonders if the real reason this was included is because spy agencies requested it. With GPS being passive, taking advantage of it to locate a target requires a second piece of software be loaded onto the device.
#DeleteChrome
The miracle and wonder behind celebrating successful space missions is realizing that going to space is hard and a lot had to go well to get things to turn out right. Even with decades of satellite launches under humanity's belt, each launch is a challenge and a learning opportunity...
...some more costly than others.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
...use a recently converted Nazi-cum-American rocket engineer ?
Here is a protip: The supply of Nazi engineers has recently dried out. That is also why American spaceflight sucks donkey balls and you use the RD180 engine.
OK, NASA here and ESA there, but what are the practical consequences of this mistake? Will television be disturbed, or radio or internet? I fear that latest is going on yet.
Joe Biden is a square shooter. Joe Biden for 2016
must have used Apple Maps to figure out the proper orbit...