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Not quite, they are a ways off from a nominal orbit, and there is still question if Yah-3 will be able to make it to it's correct orbit with fuel to spare. (SES
by Klathmon 9y ago
Not quite, they are a ways off from a nominal orbit, and there is still question if Yah-3 will be able to make it to it's correct orbit with fuel to spare. (SES-14 has electric propulsion so it's not much of a worry for them except for lost time).
At best, the Ariane 5 is causing these 2 sats a month of delays, and at worst it could render one of them useless. Just because there weren't any explosions or spectacular looking failures doesn't mean this isn't a big deal.
Edit: my apologies, it seems the article has been updated and Orbital ATK has stated that they are confident that the sat will be able to reach the right orbit. (it previously stated that Orbital ATK had not been able to say either way yet).
Still, loss of comms and an incorrect orbit insertion could prove to be disastrous for many payloads. With ArianeSpace's track record, I have no doubt in my mind that many steps will be taken to prevent this exact failure from ever happening again.