Europe may refuse to Russian missiles because of the loss of two Galileo satellites

Russia may lose Europe as a client using Russian carrier rockets to launch their satellites, the last straw was a bad launch two satellites navigation system Galileo. The possible consequences of “Interfax” said a source in the space industry.

Russian carrier rocket “Soyuz-ST-B” with the upper stage “Fregat-MT” and two European satellites launched from the Guiana Space Centre (French Guiana, South America) at 16:27 MSK. On 22 August. Initially, Russia announced the successful launch, and the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Ferdinando Nelli Feroci with emotion, said: “The launch of these two devices marks the beginning of a full operating performance of the constellation” Galileo “.

In the end, however, it appears that the upper stage “Fregat” has fulfilled its part of the trajectory is not until the end. Companions went not into orbit with a height of more than 23 thousand km, and an elliptical with a range of heights from 13 to 25 thousand kilometers. The Russian side has acknowledged that it was a blunder “Frigate”. According to sources, the fuel on board the satellite will not be enough to stabilize the orbit. On the website of the European Space Agency reported only about fixed at startup “anomalies”.

According to the source, “Interfax” in the space industry, the spacecraft can be found lost, because their use is not possible at the present orbit. However, a more serious consequence may be the refusal of Europe from the use of Russian rockets “Soyuz-ST” to remove the navigation satellite Galileo. Satellites can run European Arian-5 rocket, although start-up and is much more expensive.

Executive Director of the manufacturer of rocket Arian-5 Arianespace Stefan Israel said that on Monday the company “, together with the European Space Agency and the European Commission began an independent investigation to determine the exact cause of a problem and to develop corrective actions that will allow us to resume launches “Unions” from the Guiana Space Centre in complete safety and as fast as possible. “ From this statement it can be concluded that the launches of Russian rockets “Soyuz-ST” from the European Kourou in South America suspended.

Previously, “Interfax” in Lavochkin, which developed and manufactured the upper stage, reported that “there was an error in deriving the upper stage” Fregat “.

Galileo – the European satellite navigation system project. The European system is designed to solve navigation problems for any moving objects with an accuracy of less than one meter.

Air Force recalled that before Russia successfully put into orbit four European navigation satellites. The project is to create your own navigation system has already cost Europe € 6 billion. Budget for the program until 2020, when the orbit should be withdrawn 30 satellites, is still 7 billion euros.

The “Union” at the Guiana Space Centre “is based on an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and France, signed in November 2003.