spacetoday.net: Commission established to review Soyuz launch anomaly

Posted: Tue, Aug 26, 2014, 2:02 PM ET (1802 GMT)
Soyuz launch of Galileo satellites, August 2014 (ESA)

Arianespace announced Monday that it has established an independent commission to review the anomaly with Friday's Soyuz launch that placed two Galileo navigation satellites into the wrong orbits. The commission, chaired by former ESA inspector general Peter Dubock, is scheduled to provide an initial report on the incident by September 8. The cause of the anomaly is not immediately known, beyond being linked to an issue with the rocket's Fregat upper stage. However, Russian officials have told state media that there were "no complaints" with the telemetry from the upper stage. Separately, the European Commission requested Arianespace and ESA to provide "full details" of the incident and a schedule to rectify the problem. The EC said it still expects the full Galileo system to be in place by the end of the decade.