Article updated at 14:30
The satellite positioning system made in Europe still lagging behind with the failure of the in-orbit of two satellites last August.
The first phase of the launch were apparently conducted without
mishap, but the two satellites have not reached an orbit consistent with the flight plan.
missing the plate, the satellites will be many months
effective in terms of accuracy. One wonders if they will be
operational one day. Worse, they are not designed to catch a
Such trajectory error, the fault too low reserves
fuel.
This is
So consternation side Arianespace and Commission
European: remember that the project (first private and public) was
launched at the beginning of 2000 and should be operational in 2014 …
Nearly 4 billion euros have already been spent for a total cost
estimated at 10 billion euros.
Mount error
Now
it is time to account. “The studies and analysis of data
continuing in collaboration with Russian partners program
Soyuz in French Guiana as well as the ESA and its industrial partners,
explained Arianespace has launched in association with ESA and
Commission an independent commission of inquiry.
Objective
: Define the precise causes of this major “anomaly”. And the initial responses fall. It is therefore not a problem
software, but a hardware fault. Specifically, the problem is the gel fuel in a poorly designed pipe in the launcher
Russian Soyuz that powers the engine of the upper stage.
In practice, engineers NPO Lavochkin Nont ignored cooling
significant in certain circumstances caused by
helium lines (very low temperature) installed too close to the fuel lines.
“This is not a human error. This is a gap in the design. we know what to do to correct very quickly. This allows
considering a return to flight Soyuz from French Guiana in the month of
December, “said AFP Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace.
” It is therefore not an assembly error in NPO Lavochkin workshops, but a problem heat that had not been detected in the design, “he says.
It is not tomorrow that Galileo will be able to compete with the ultra-dominant American GPS. I must say that … the story of Galileo long like a long river strewn with pitfalls.
Original purpose: a system launch in 2008 …
In 2005, an industrial consortium (the French Thales and
Alcatel-Lucent, Spanish Hispasat, Inmarsat UK, the
AENA and Finmeccanica Italian and a German conglomerate run
Deutsche Telekom and European Aeronautic, Defence & amp; Space Co)
ally to the public sector had received the green light to start the project.
The difficulties of forming consortium
an entity to oversee the project and choose for it a
CEO have blocked talks between industry and
the EU officials. Sticking point: the terms of the
concession of twenty who were to be given to exploit
Galileo.
Production then refused to take any
financial risk at maturity that was scheduled for May 10, 2007 by
Transport Ministers of the Twenty-September
Faced with these obstacles, the European Commission announced in 2008 its
intention to withdraw the construction contract to consortium
of companies to which it has given the benefit of a full public funding.
Twenty-Seven decided that public money would fund
satellite infrastructure at a cost of 3.4 billion euros,
be another 2.4 billion from one billion euros already
injected a total cost ranging operation, 10000000000
euros.
In early 2010, the European Commission awarded
three markets in three European industrial finally kick whistling
Sending this program. German OHB System was chosen to provide
the first 14 satellites worth 566 million euros. The
French EADS Astrium, was removed which is a heavy
defeat … But we promised the industry a framework agreement for a
future rounds of satellites.
Meanwhile, the Italian ThalesAleniaSpace won the contract for the
support services for the Galileo system worth 85 million
euros. Finally, Arianespace will be responsible for the set orbit
through five Soyuz launchers, each carrying two satellites.
To be fair Soyuz was preferred to Ariane for reasons
economy. Some now regret that choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment