{"id":15574,"date":"2016-04-21T21:37:03","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T13:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/faulty-bracket-leaves-norwegian-satellite-grounded\/"},"modified":"2016-04-21T21:37:03","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T13:37:03","slug":"faulty-bracket-leaves-norwegian-satellite-grounded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/faulty-bracket-leaves-norwegian-satellite-grounded\/","title":{"rendered":"Faulty bracket leaves Norwegian satellite grounded"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of the Norsat 1 microsatellite in orbit. Credit: ESA\/T. Abrahamsen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Officials from the Norwegian Space Center are looking for another launch opportunity for a microsatellite designed to track ship traffic and study space weather after engineers determined it could not safely be attached to a Soyuz rocket set for liftoff Friday.<\/p>\n

Officials decided to keep the Norsat 1 spacecraft on the ground earlier this month. Such a decision is rare so close to a launch.<\/p>\n

The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory, a Canadian integrator of small satellites and Norsat 1\u2019s prime contractor, said in an April 14 statement that Arianespace canceled the launch of Norsat 1 in agreement with the Norwegian Space Center and the Toronto-based research lab.<\/p>\n

Engineers discovered \u201can incompatibility between the satellite and the launcher supporting structure provided by Arianespace,\u201d the press release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the satellite and XPOD (container) were ready for launch, but the bracket provided by Arianespace was not properly designed,\u201d the Space Flight Laboratory said. \u201cIt was concluded that it is unsafe to proceed with the launch with the current bracket structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claudia Hoyau, an Arianespace spokesperson, told Spaceflight Now the launch provider and the Norwegian Space Center \u2014 Norway\u2019s space agency \u2014 are \u201cstudying alternatives solutions in order to launch Norsat 1 as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unfortunate news considering the fantastic effort made by both SFL and NSC to be on this launch,\u201d said Robert Zee, director of the Space Flight Laboratory, in a statement.<\/p>\n

Hoyau said the Soyuz rocket\u2019s payload composite, comprising Europe\u2019s Sentinel 1B environmental satellite, France\u2019s Microscope science probe, and three CubeSats, is fully qualified for flight without Norsat 1.<\/p>\n

\"This
This picture shows the Norsat 1 satellite during thermal vacuum testing. Credit: UTIAS\/SFL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A source familiar with the Soyuz launch preparations said a mass simulator will fly in place of Norsat 1. The official said Norsat 1\u2019s separation interface with the rocket was \u201cnot compatible with the overall vibration environment of the launcher.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was ready to go and we were all excited to see Norsat 1 fly in a desirable orbit and having synergies with other satellites on the launch. But both NSC and SFL agree that it is better to protect the satellite and its XPOD for a subsequent launch opportunity,\u201d Zee said.<\/p>\n

Officials hope to launch Norsat 1 later this year.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft weighs approximately 15 kilograms (33 pounds) and is about the size of a briefcase.<\/p>\n

The Norsat 1 satellite carries scientific instruments to measure solar radiation levels and space plasma, and a next-generation VHF Automatic Identification System receiver to monitor maritime traffic from orbit.<\/p>\n

The mission costs approximately $4 million.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist\u2019s concept of the Norsat 1 microsatellite in orbit. Credit: ESA\/T. Abrahamsen Officials from the Norwegian Space Center are looking for another launch opportunity for a microsatellite designed to track ship traffic and study space weather after engineers determined it could not safely be attached to a Soyuz rocket set for liftoff Friday. Officials decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1756,498,1763,3743,325,3744,1302,340],"class_list":["post-15574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ais","tag-arianespace","tag-fregat","tag-norsat-1","tag-norway","tag-norwegian-space-centre","tag-soyuz","tag-space-weather"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}