AFP
PARIS
Two European Galileo satellites launched as part of a navigation system designed to rival GPS have failed to locate their intended orbit, launch firm Arianespace said Saturday. The European Space Agency said an investigation had been launched into what it said were “the anomolies of the orbit injection” but that the satellites were being safely controlled. The satellites Doresa and Milena took off from the Kourou space centre in French Guiana aboard a Russian-made rocket on Friday after a 24-hour delay because of poor weather. “Observations taken after the separation of the satellites from the Soyuz VS09 (rocket) for the Galileo Mission show a gap between the orbit achieved and that which was planned,” the Arianespace said in a statement. “They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. The teams of industries and agencies involved in the early operations of the satellites are investigating the potential implications on the mission,” it said. The 5.4 billion euro ($7.2 billion) Galileo constellation is designed as an alternative to the existing US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russia’s Glonass, and will have search-and-rescue capabilities.