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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.
Just killing some kerbals
I know, right?
One must ask onesself, "It was a wrong orbit for who?" Perhaps it was the right orbit for some other purpose. A purpose that you aren't supposed to know, or even consider....
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
KABOOM!
Says the Anonymous coward...
This is the 2012 report, and a summary of success rates. You'll find the first American rocket as #7...
http://www.spacelaunchreport.c...
In 2013 the Atlas moved up to #4, Still after the Russian and EU.
http://www.spacelaunchreport.c...
Just wait for the satellites to be overhead.
Never mind, wrong post.
That was during a test. The European mission wasn't.
Dammit ESA, you had one job.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
Maybe they should have used GPS :>
... Low Orbit Ion Canon.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
The satellites were brought up by Russian Soyuz rockets.
I'm sure this mishap has nothing to do with EU sanctions against Russia and the crisis in the Ukraine.
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?"
Depends. If in the same orbital plane, but just too low, it might be doable. If put into a lower orbit _and_ different orbital plane, it's another venture alltogether. Plus, you'd probably loose the ability to deorbit. If they can still be useful in their current orbits, I'd leave them there.
Using alien technology. To film it in a Hollywood basement.
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
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.
Well, wouldn't the Russian rocket basically just get the satellite into LEO, while mission-special rockets would do final delivery to the proper orbit?
at least that's what my wife suggested when I asked her just now. And she actually is a rocket scientist...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Probably going to intercept cell phone transmission from Columbian drug cartels.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_...
Can she launch your rocket?
Would I have married her otherwise?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
if they had used Engrish units this never would have happened.
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.
Let me compensate for the paranoia and invoke Hanlon's razor on this one:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
That's only for stuff that goes up into the heavily populated geostationary belt. GPS orbits are about half-way down and much more sparse, so there's no need to have a graveyard orbit the way there is in GEO. Besides, a higher orbit analogous to the geostationary graveyard is still a usable orbit for GPS, so there's nothing to be gained by moving there at the end of life, and the orbits are too high for re-entry burns to be practical the way they are for certain LEO orbits.
Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice, especially where large institutions are involved.
Maybe they forgot to use Metric? Oh wait, the satellites would have ended up in Martian orbit if they had done that.
I dont know much about satellites, but I do think thats how they work.
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.
Yet we tolerated the russian version?
So, like the Galactus of stupidity? Where it's a force of nature?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
You shoulda left it, would have been modded +5 Funny by now if you hadn't corrected yourself.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
That's kinda how they work, depending on the design. It's the cell phones that don't work that way.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
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
Old reference is old, I guess. Tom Clancy did it.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Actually, yes.
It's better for the vehicle to terminate the flight, than to just give it it's best shot.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Let me compensate for the paranoia...
Well then.
Let me compeNSAte for the paranoia...
(captcha: spooky)
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 final stage that was meant to put the two satellites into their proper orbit was a Fregat-MT upper stage built by the Russians and supplied as part of the complete Soyuz stack.
The satellites have their own motors used for station-keeping, trimming orbit etc. but I doubt they have enough fuel to move themselves to the planned orbit. Even in the wrong orbit the satellites will still work and provide position data to GPS receivers but they will not provide the sort of whole-sky coverage originally planned. They are high enough that they're not likely to deorbit within the next few years at least.
The complete Galileo constellation is intended to consist of twenty-four working satellites and six spares so ESA and the Galileo consortium have some leeway. They might revamp the deployment schedule to use fewer Soyuz launches and more Ariane V launches for the rest of the constellation though unless the Russians can explain what went wrong with the Fregat-TM and guarantee it won't happen again.
Galileo launches use a Fregat fourth stage (also Russian) to move the satellite to its mission orbit.
Take a closer look at that table. The US vehicles in 7-8 place have one and only one failure. The low ranking is because they are relatively new and have participated in a small number of missions.
In the 2nd table, showing retired vehicles the US has 3 of the top 4 spots.
Yeah, and Gene Roddenberry wrote about faster than light space travel back in the 60's, but that didn't make it possible.
Cell phones can, under ideal conditions, transmit 30 to 40 miles, while a low earth orbit is 99 miles up, and it would have to be directly overhead to be 99 miles away..>/p?
Fictional stories are fiction for a reason.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
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
Then If you want space done right go retired American vehicles
It depends of the exact orbit. But even if it's possible, you don't have any more fuel to reach graveyard orbit later. Better conclude that you can't use them and collect money from arianespace insurers.
One who wants it cheap, has to pay twice, isn't it?
The crazy russians have a hair trigger on nukes pointed at the US!
There is that.
I just realized (due to another /. post today) that the Atlas 5 is using the Russian built RD-180 engines.
Your point being?
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
The problem is that noone trusts a system which is controlled by the USA.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
must have used Apple Maps to figure out the proper orbit...