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<\/p>\nFollowing a launch pause of over two months, Ariane 5 returned to action on Thursday with the launch of DSN-1\/Superbird-8 and HYLAS 4. Liftoff from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was on schedule at the start of a 50 minute launch window that opened at 21:34 UTC.<\/p>\n
In what was the second Ariane 5 launch of the year, Arianespace was originally set to launch this mission last month.<\/p>\n
There has been no official word on the reason for the delay into April, with the only news coming from one of the passengers for this latest mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cAvanti Communications Group plc (\u2018Avanti\u2019) has been advised by Arianespace of a delay to the launch of its HYLAS 4 satellite (\u2018HYLAS 4\u2019), which will not have a material effect on the HYLAS 4 in-service date,\u201d per a press release. \u201cAvanti anticipates a revised launch date in early April and expects to be able to confirm a fixed launch date shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
That date was set for April 5.<\/p>\n
A potential cause of the secrecy relating to the launch date change could be due to the resolutions taking place after the first Ariane 5 launch of the year.<\/p>\n
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Ariane 5\u2019s January launch<\/p>\n
That launch lofted SES-14 and Al Yah-3. However, despite concerns the two passengers had been lost due to the lack of telemetry during the bulk of the upper stage flight, both satellites did deploy. While there has been no word on SES-14\u2019s status, Al Yah-3\u2019s owners are understood to be making an insurance claim.<\/p>\n
The issue \u2013 as noted by an Independent Enquiry Commission \u2013 was caused by an \u201cincorrect value in specifications for the implementation of the launcher\u2019s two inertial reference systems.\u201d As such, this issue was likely caused by human error.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the special requirements of this mission, the azimuth required for the alignment of the inertial units was 70 degrees instead of 90 degrees, as is most often the case for missions to geostationary transfer orbit. This gap led to the 20-degree shift to the south in the launcher trajectory from the initial seconds of flight,\u201d added the investigation report.<\/p>\n
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