Ariane 5 Anomaly

[bxr140]

Video: Arianespace chief Stephane Israel announces launch anomaly – Spaceflight Now

Loss of contact after second stage ignition a few minutes ago. This is a real bummer for the industry and will put more pressure on the other launchers to pick up the slack in the global manifest. And given Proton's current reputation (plus political barriers) and Atlas 5's high price and low volume, that pretty much means its up to SpaceX...

 

[mongo]

Video: Arianespace chief Stephane Israel announces launch anomaly – Spaceflight Now

Loss of contact after second stage ignition a few minutes ago. This is a real bummer for the industry and will put more pressure on the other launchers to pick up the slack in the global manifest. And given Proton's current reputation (plus political barriers) and Atlas 5's high price and low volume, that pretty much means its up to SpaceX...

Looks like only a telemetry failure

The launcher's liftoff took place on January 25, 2018, at 720 p.m. (French Guiana time). A few seconds after ignition of the upper stage, the second tracking station located in Natal, Brazil, did not acquire the launcher telemetry. This lack of telemetry lasted throughout the rest of powered flight.

Subsequently, both satellites were confirmed separated, acquired and they are on orbit. SES-14 and Al Yah 3 are communicating with their respective control centers. Both missions are continuing.

 

[mongo]

Follow up from Chris G:

And BOTH satellite owners now confirm their sats can achieve intended orbits and perform their full mission! So that's a partial failure for #Ariane5 that still results in full mission success. #SES14 #AlYah3

 

[swaltner]

So, this is why rockets have their launch sequence controlled by their on-board computers...

 

[mongo]

So, this is why rockets have their launch sequence controlled by their on-board computers...

Yeah, having default values for nominal launch that can be updated after tracking verification is definitely a good strategy.

 

[Grendal]

Here is an article explaining the details of what went wrong. And what went wrong is that the second stage (or possibly the first) went off course placing the two satellites into the wrong orbits. Both satellites are operational and can correct the error at the expense of fuel which affects their operational life.
Satellites placed into incorrect orbits by Ariane 5 can be recovered, owners say - SpaceNews.com

For those interested in the nitty gritty, here is a discussion happening at NASASpaceflight forum about what happened.
LIVE: Ariane 5 VA241 - SES-14 (with NASA GOLD payload) & Al Yah-3 Jan. 25, 2018

 

[HVM]

I thought only Russian do a scripted event read, when actually the telemetry is lost. It was ~20 Deg off course! Nearly flying over of Town Kourou...The telemetry was lost because the rocket went outside of the designed ground station's listening range...

(Mod note - removed inappropriate material at bottom of post)
..

 

[HVM]

If anyone wonders reason for the mod note, it was a picture of anthropomorphized launch vehicles.

 

[Bobfitz1]

I thought only Russian do a scripted event read, when actually the telemetry is lost. It was ~20 Deg off course! Nearly flying over of Town Kourou...The telemetry was lost because the rocket went outside of the designed ground station's listening range...

Now that a few days have passed and more info released, what is the bottom line for Ariane 5? A lengthy suspension of launches until they find out the root cause then make and test fixes?

 

[HVM]

Not yet, only press-release:

"SES and Yahsat have confirmed that both satellites (SES-14 and Al Yah 3) have been acquired and are operating in orbit nominally, despite a trajectory deviation experienced during VA241 launch.

The upcoming launch campaigns currently underway at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) proceed as scheduled.

Arianespace has set up an independent enquiry commission in conjunction with ESA"