Galileo sent to the wrong orbit – South West

“It will be difficult to catch up,” admitted Jean-Yves Le Gall, the Interdepartmental Coordinator for France the Galileo program, the European navigation system known to compete with the American GPS. “We had to be on a circular orbit of 23,000 km altitude, and the orbit is not circular but elliptical and lower, around 17,000 km, which means that it’s hard to fill mission, “says the former head of Arianespace. “Three hours after takeoff, something is clearly wrong. “

Scheduled to be operational in the fall after their first tests in space, these two satellites must be added to the four already launched to validate the desired system by the European Commission. The initial Galileo services should begin in late 2014, before it becomes fully operational in 2018

commissioning originally scheduled in 2008 and an initial cost of € 3.2 billion The system, the first two satellites were launched in October 2011, has accumulated delays and cost overruns. In October 2013, the German OHB, which was entrusted with the construction of 22 satellites, had to seek the help of his French competitors to catch up in the delivery.

Thursday, Arianespace announced the launch, in 2015, twelve new satellites “to accelerate the deployment” of Galileo. The calendar may still be upset after this new disappointment.