Opps! What a coincidence!
Breathtaking scenery in Redstone Park in SW China
Vintage cars show kicks off in London
Gorgeous scenery in NE China
Picturesque Barkol grassland in Xinjiang
Small Wild Goose Pagoda - A World Cultural Heritage Site along the Silk Road
Maritime Silk Road Luxuries of the Han Dynasty
Ciao! Chinese beauties!
An eye feast: BFA freshmen registration
Top 10 most lavish weddings
PARIS, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- European satellite launch company Arianespace on Wednesday said a shortcoming in the design stages was behind an anomaly that occurred during August's Soyuz mission to carry two satellites in the Galileo constellation from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
"The root cause of the anomaly on flight VS09 is a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis during stage design, and not an operator error during stage assembly," an independent inquiry commission said.
"The system thermal analyses have been reexamined in depth to identify all areas concerned by this issue," it added.
The inquiry, set up by Arianespace, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission in August, recommended a revamp of the system thermal analysis and associated corrections in the design documents.
The commission, chaired by Peter Dubock, former ESA Inspector General, called for a modification of documents in manufacturer assembly, integration and inspection procedures.
"These measures can easily and immediately be applied by (Russian aerospace company) NPO Lavochkin to the stages already produced, meaning that the Soyuz launcher could be available for its next mission from the Guiana Space Center as from December 2014," it said.
Europe's fifth and sixth satellites for its Galileo global satellite navigation system, seated atop a Soyuz rocket, lifted off from the Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on Aug. 22.
Thirty-five minutes after liftoff, an anomaly occurred during the flight of the launcher's fourth stage, Fregat, designed and produced by NPO Lavochkin, according to the commission.
"The resolution of this anomaly will enable a consolidation of the reliability of Fregat, which had experienced 45 consecutive successes until this mission," said Stephane Israel, Arianespace chairman and CEO.
Galileo is Europe's global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. It is inter-operable with GPS and Glonass, the U.S. and Russian global satellite navigation systems.
The fully-deployed Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites and their ground infrastructure. Four Galileo satellites have already been launched in pairs in October 2011 and October 2012.
Vibrant 21-year-old and her own Cheongsam brand
Fashion style: Faye Wong vs Cecilia Cheung
Jungle law: leopard preys on impala
Female bus driver drives Land Rover for commuting
Century-old public bath closes door in Beijing
Leading director Wang Quan'an detained for 'buying sex'
Mixed reaction to smartphone sidewalk
Amazing aerial photos of China's Xisha Islands
Top 10 world's highest-paid models 2014
Lingerie show at 2014 Miss China
Songstress Li Xianglan dies at 94
Police recruiting posters
Anshun Daxi- Living fossil of Chinese drama
Urban farmers in China
'Firepower-2014 Weibei'military exerciseDay|Week|Month