Science

SES says satellite in 'good health' despite Ariane launch anomaly

January 26, 2018 14:12·
Ariane 5 conducts SES-14 and Al Yah-3 launch – waiting for success confirmation

Ariane 5 conducts SES-14 and Al Yah-3 launch – waiting for success confirmation

An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off Thursday from French Guiana.

Created to place payloads weighing up to 9.6 tonnes into GTO, this increased capacity allows the Ariane 5 ECA to handle dual launches of very large satellites. But questions lingered early Friday about the accuracy of the payload deployments.

Before this flight it had gone to space 82 times on the trot without mishap.

Climbing through scattered clouds with 2.9 million pounds of thrust, the 180-foot-tall (55-meter) Ariane 5 arced to the east on a course over the Atlantic Ocean. Everything was normal until a few seconds after the ignition of the second stage.

Ariane 5 has rarely failed in the past, as the workhorse of the European space industry. Officials never heard from it again as the Ariane 5 was programmed to burn its HM7B upper stage engine for almost 16 minutes.

There has not been telemetry since first stage separation according to the graph.

But silence from the range operations director, coupled with the telemetry dropout suggested by Jupiter display board, suggested something was amiss.

Yahsat has yet to speak publicly about the status of its spacecraft, Al Yah-3, other than to repeat Arianespace's statement.

After a few minutes, the live feed from Arianespace was cut, and 30 minutes later, Stephane Israel, Arianespace's chief executive, said "We have had an anomaly on this launch".

"Up until now our customers do not have contact with their satellites, said Israel".

The operator said the 15-year lifetime of SES-14 had not been compromised.

"We know that there is no launch with no risk", Israel said. "We now need some time to determine where [the satellites] are exactly". One worry is that the satellites may not be in their correct target orbits.

Arianespace is still investigating if the payloads deployed as planned. Officials did not confirm whether the satellites were located in their targeted elliptical "supersynchronous" orbits. At that point, no one was in contact with the rocket.

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"This lack of telemetry lasted throughout the rest of powered flight", it added.

Both satellites confirmed separated, acquired, on orbit.

An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket carrying the SES-14 communications satellite, with NASA's GOLD instrument, and the Al Yah 3 satellite lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on January 25, 2018. "Both missions are continuing".

The SES 14 and Al Yah 3 satellites were created to use on-board thrusters to maneuver themselves into circular orbits 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator. The rocket is being provided to NASA in exchange for observing time on the observatory.

The outlook for the Al Yah 3 satellite, which has a chemical orbit-raising thruster, has not been confirmed. GOLD, which is a bit bigger than a microwave, rode piggyback on SES-14.

GOLD, that stands for Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, is a NASA mission led by the UCF.

GOLD will study Earth's upper atmosphere, especially the temperatures in the ionosphere and thermosphere, from its perch in geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) up.

"W$3 e have had an anomaly on this launch".

The platform, built by Orbital ATK in the United States, carries a chemical propulsion system. It was the first NASA mission that consisted of an instrument that lived on a commercial satellite.

It's unclear how this setback will impact future launches. The good news comes after mission control briefly lost contact with the craft in a rare malfunction.

On the current calendar, the Ariane 5 is due to make up to six more launches this year.

BepiColombo will kick off a seven-year journey to Mercury when it lifts off October 5.

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