Re: Satellites launched into wrong orbit

From: Paul J Henney (ph014a5309@blueyonder.co.uk)
Date: Sat Jul 14 2001 - 04:11:11 PDT

  • Next message: Jim Stamm: "Re: Western US heads up - Vandenberg launch Saturday"

    Hi,
    
    A review panel has been convened to look into the failure..I suspect a
    propellant pressurisation failure FWIW.
    
    As for the payloads ..Artemis probabaly does have enough propellant to reach
    GSO but will then be totally dependent on its Ion thrusters for station
    keeping.
    
    As far Bsat B..its not clear what the situation is but this is probably a
    loss  or else a severely reduced service life (it was an on-orbit standby
    anyway).
    
    
    Sh*t happens.
    
    pj
    
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Jonathan T Wojack" <tlj18@juno.com>
    To: <SeeSat-L@blackadder.lmsal.com>
    Sent: 13 July 2001 22:20
    Subject: Re: Satellites launched into wrong orbit
    
    
    > > "Liftoff of the tenth Ariane 5 occurred right on schedule at 2158
    > > GMT (5:58
    > > p.m. EDT) from the jungle launch site in Kourou, French Guiana,
    > > beginning a
    > > 34-minute flight that was supposed to propel its dual-satellite
    > > cargo into
    > > an elliptical transfer orbit around Earth. The intended orbit
    > > featured a
    > > high point of 35,853 km, low point of 858 km and inclination of 2.0
    > > degrees
    > > to either side of the equator.
    > >
    > > But a "defect" in the rocket's upper stage relegated the cargo to an
    > > orbit
    > > with a high point of only 17,528 km, a low point of 592 km and
    > > inclination
    > > of 2.9 degrees to the equator."
    >
    > Spaceflightnow.com is reporting that it is unsure whether or not the
    > spacecraft has enough fuel to reach the intended orbit.  Questions:
    >
    > 1)  Will they try to get it into the correct orbit, even if they may not
    > have enough fuel to do so (if it's an unknown) ?  That could be kind of
    > risky, since if they run out of fuel before getting into the right orbit,
    > it will eventually dip into low Earth orbit and cause risk to other
    > satellites.
    >
    > 2)  If there is insufficient fuel, would they plummet the spacecraft into
    > Earth's atmosphere?  Or settle for a lower orbit which would take the
    > satellite all around the Earth?
    >
    > ------------------------------
    > Jonathan T. Wojack                 tlj18@juno.com
    > 39.706d N   75.683d W
    >
    > 4 hours behind UT (-4)
    >
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