Article Posted on : - Aug 25, 2014

Soyuz VS09 Liftoff. Photo: Arianespace

PARIS (AFP): Two European Galileo satellites launched as part of a navigation system designed to rival GPS have failed to locate their intended orbit, launch firm Arianespace has said.

The European Space Agency on Friday said an investigation had been launched into what it said were "the anomalies of the orbit injection" but that the satellites were being safely controlled.

The satellites Doresa and Milena took off from the Kourou space centre in French Guiana aboard a Russian-made rocket on Friday after a 24-hour delay because of poor weather.

"Observations taken after the separation of the satellites from the Soyuz VS09 (rocket) for the Galileo Mission show a gap between the orbit achieved and that which was planned," the Arianespace said in a statement.

"They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. The teams of industries and agencies involved in the early operations of the satellites are investigating the potential implications on the mission," it said.

The 5.4 billion euro (7.2 billion) Galileo constellation is designed as an alternative to the existing US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russia's Glonass, and will have search-and-rescue capabilities.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, France's Galileo coordinator, told AFP it would be "complicated" to correct the orbit of the two satellites.

"We are trying to see if we can remedy the situation in the coming hours," he said.

The European Space Agency said both the satellites were being "safely controlled" from its operations centre in Germany.

Initially, Arianespace had said that the satellites had separated from the mothership to enter into free-flight orbit as planned just under four hours after launch.

"These two satellites are the first of a new type of satellite that are fully owned by the EU, a step towards a fully fledged European-owned satellite navigation system," the European Commission, which funds the project, said Friday.