Galileo global satellite positioning system : Russian carrier rocket blasts off from Kourou

 A Russian Souyz-ST carrier rocket with two new satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system has successfully been launched from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, the European Space Agency (ESA) reported on Tuesday.

EU successfully launches two Galileo satellites (positioned as expected)

[European Commission - Press release 28.03.15]:
"Galileo, the EU's satellite navigation programme, has just placed two more satellites into orbit. The lift-off took place on 27 March at 22.46 CET from the European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. We have received signals proving that they were positioned as expected.

Russian booster worked properly when deploying Galileo satellites

MOSCOW, August 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz rocket and Fregat booster worked properly when deploying European Galileo satellites last week when they found to be slightly deviating from the target orbit, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Monday.

“The express analysis of the telemetric data shows that there are no complaints about the work of the onboard equipment of the Soyuz carrier rocket and Fregat booster,” Roscosmos said.

Galileo: European Commission requests full details of launch problems from Arianespace and ESA

European Commission, Press release, Brussels, 25 August 2014:

Following the failure on Friday August 22nd to inject Galileo satellites 5 and 6 into the correct orbit, the European Commission has requested Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide full details of the incident, together with a schedule and an action plan to rectify the problem.

According to initial information from Arianespace, the problem involved the upper stage of the launcher, as a result of which the satellites were not injected into the required orbit.

Galileo satellites not on right orbit (Arianespace)

PARIS: Two European Galileo satellites launched by a Russian-built rocket on Friday (Aug 22) from French Guiana have not reached their intended orbit, launch firm Arianespace said Saturday.

"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 company said in a statement. "They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. Teams are studying the impact this could have on the satellites.”
Arianespace declined to comment on whether their trajectories can be corrected.

Europe launches navigation satellites to rival GPS

Two satellites for Europe's Galileo navigation system - a rival to the American GPS - were successfully launched on Friday from Kourou in French Guyana, bringing the number of orbiters in the system to six.

The Galileo constellation is designed to give a competitive alternative to both the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russia's Glonass.

By the end of the decade, the system will cost Europe around 10 billion euros once operational and comprise 27 satellites orbiting earth at different altitudes.