Arianespace sets up Quality Control investigations after latest launch delay

Arianespace has set up a task force and initiated a quality audit following a second delay to the Ariane 5 launch of the SES Astra 3B and German military COMSATBw-2 satellites.
The rescheduled flight on April 9 was aborted just a minute before takeoff…

Arianespace has set up a task force and initiated a quality audit following a second delay to the Ariane 5 launch of the SES Astra 3B and German military COMSATBw-2 satellites.

The rescheduled flight on April 9 was aborted just a minute before takeoff due to a launch pressurisation anomaly.

The task force will focus on understanding and correcting the specific problem that arose, while the quality audit will address the underlying technical problems afflicting the flight.

Arianespace is taking every precaution to maintain its current uninterrupted record of 35 successful flights over the last seven years.

The task force will deliver its initial report by April 16. The audit will be completed prior to the eventual launch of the rocket, which will now take place in the second half of May.

The original launch date of March 26 was also postponed just seconds before takeoff, after an anomaly was detected in a subsystem of the Ariane 5.

The delay puts Arianespace’s stated aim to conduct seven Ariane flights this year into doubt. This would require the company to mount six more missions in just over seven months. Such a task is not impossible, but it is dependent on no further similar delays.

Arianespace will augment its Ariane 5 capacity when it commences launching Soyuz flights from the Kourou base in French Guiana later this year.

However, the delay to this latest Ariane 5 launch adds to operator worries that access to space could be a problem in the event of a failure for Arianespace or International Launch Services.

This current mission is insured for an estimated US$700m. One insurance broker said: “It’s a Catch 22 for the underwriters. On the one hand they are obviously happy they found the fault on the ground, but with the delay they could potentially miss out on premium income for the year.”