The Ariane 5 rocket during the launch on Wednesday in Koro
Avi Blizovsky
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The delayed launch in Laos of an upgraded Ariane-5 rocket ended in disaster on Wednesday when the rocket exploded shortly after launch from French Guiana, sending the two satellites aboard falling into the Atlantic Ocean.
The explosion is the fourth failure of Ariane 5 out of 14 missions. The failure may stop Ariane 5 launches until the source of the fault is identified.
This is an upgraded model of the missile designed to fly into space up to 10 tons. Ariane-Espas CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall says the missile stopped functioning three minutes after launch. "At this stage it is difficult to know what the exact reasons for the malfunction are," he said. "Our profession is sometimes problematic, but I'm sure we'll be back."
The rocket carried on board the Hot Bird 7 satellite owned by the French operator Eutelest, which estimates its value at 250 million dollars.
The second satellite was a $385 million experimental satellite developed by the French Space Agency, France Telecom and the French Military Procurement Agency.
The missile was scheduled to be launched on November 28 from the Ariane launch site in Kourou, French Guinea on the northwestern border of South America. A last minute problem then halted the launch. Wednesday's launch was carried out after replacing two components in the cooling system.
Since the beginning of the Ariane project in 1979, 11 out of 157 launches have failed. Only three out of over a hundred Ariane 4 rockets failed. However, the stocks of this missile are going to end and only two more flights are planned for missiles of this model.
And in the meantime, the European Space Agency said that the future of the European Space Agency's flagship program, Rosetta, is in danger, after the fourth malfunction of the Ariane 5 rocket. Rosetta, an operation in which a spacecraft will land on a comet is supposed to be launched on top of an Ariane rocket and the biggest nightmare of the Rosetta planners is that it Will explode further in the launch process.
According to Dr. Chris Carr, from Imperial College London, the journey to orbit and land on a comet is one of the most ambitious programs of the European Space Agency and also one of the most expensive programs.
The planners are in a dilemma, whether to risk a failed launch or return to the drawing board after ten years of planning.
One of the two British scientists leading the project say that it must be redesigned and adapted to a different launch vehicle.
Rosetta was supposed to be launched on January 12, 2003 from its origin in French Guiana. It cannot be launched by another rocket and it must also be launched no later than the beginning of February in order to meet with comet Virtanen. To reach it, it will circle the Earth twice and Mars once.
If she doesn't do this within the 20 day launch window, the planets will be in the wrong places and won't be able to help her reach the comet with their gravitational forces.
Astronomers have been following comet Virtanan for many years because they knew it was the target of the European Space Agency mission.
Dr. Carr believes that the postponement will be at least six months, if at all the launch can take place.
Rosetta was designed just for the task. It will be very difficult to direct it to another comet even if one is found that is also interesting from a scientific point of view.
This thing is a nightmare scenario for the European Space Agency. On Monday, Prof. David Southwood, the agency's scientific director, said: There is still a month until the long-awaited launch.
The European Space Agency has appointed a commission of inquiry into the Ariane 5 disaster and to analyze the data to identify the cause.
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