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<ul><li>Europe’s <keyword id="3158761" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vega-rocket">Vega rocket</keyword> suffered an ‘anomaly’ after launching today causing the loss of Spain’s SEOSat-Ingenio, and the French TARANIS satellites.</li><li>The SEOSat-Ingenio is Spain's first Earth observation satellite for an ESA program to study our planet. The project was initiated in 2008 and cost the government around €200 million.</li><li>This is the second major malfunction that the Vega rocket has been witness to in two years. </li></ul> Today was supposed to be a momentous day for Spain, with the European country launching its first optical imaging satellite into orbit. Instead, the milestone was left unfulfilled, with <keyword id="516790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arianespace">Arianespace</keyword>’s Vega rocket failing within minutes of taking off from French Guiana. The launch occurred at around 7:30 am (IST) with Spain’s SEOSat-Ingenio, and the French TARANIS satellites settled in to be deployed 700 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Roughly eight minutes later, Arianespace — the European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial arm — encountered an ‘anomaly.’ Within minutes, CEO Stephane Israel announced, “We can now confirm the mission is lost,” to some perplexed viewers watching the live stream. Vega’s second malfunction This is the second major malfunction that the Vega rocket has been witness to in two years. Last year in June, the rocket failed during the launch of a satellite for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A faulty motor on the booster was later revealed to be the cause. Vega made a triumphant return this year on September 2, launching 53 small satellites in one go for 21 different customers. The rocket can carry up to 1,5000 kilograms to polar orbits just over 700 kilometers in orbit. However, on its second go today, the 30-meter tall launch vehicle has proven to be less than reliable. That said — since its inception in 2012 — Vega has seen 15 successful launches before last year’s disaster. "Eight minutes after the liftoff, and immediately after the ignition of the engine of the fourth stage of Vega, the Avum stage, we observed the degradation of the trajectory. It means that the speed was not nominal anymore,” he explained. The company is yet to disclose the exact cause for failure during the launch but is currently investigating the issue. Spain’s lost satellite The SEOSat-Ingenio is Spain's first Earth observation satellite for an ESA program to study our planet. The project was initiated in 2008 and cost the government around €200 million. The satellite is equipped with a high-resolution dual camera that can take pictures of the planet with a resolution of 2.5 meters with a field of view that can look not only sideways but also downwards. The capability allows it to observe any point on Earth over three days. According to the Head of Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) Jorge Lomba, the SEOSat-Ingenio is the first satellite that Spain has indigenously designed, developed, and operated. Its applications, however, were intended to go beyond just Spain or even Europe. It will also survey North Africa and Latin America. The expectation was the satellite’s cameras would have covered 2,500,000 square kilometers per day — more than five times the area of Spain — and take up to 600 images per day. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/ahead-of-modi-and-xi-virtual-meet-at-brics-summit-india-foreign-minister-warns-of-rcep-damaging-consequences/articleshow/79257760.cms">India's Foreign Minister warns of RCEP's 'damaging consequences' ahead of Modi and Xi's virtual meet at BRICS summit</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/indian-government-lays-down-deadline-for-digital-news-companies-to-share-fdi-details-with-the-ib-ministry/articleshow/79256146.cms">Digital news publications in India have one month to share FDI details with the government — and till October next year to comply</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/flipkart-buys-ar-firm-scapic-to-boost-its-user-experience/articleshow/79256274.cms">Flipkart makes yet another acquisition – buys 100% stake in Augmented Reality startup Scapic</a>

Spain’s first optical imaging satellite fails to reach orbit as the European rocket breaks down

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Facebook is still actively working on plans to launch satellites, despite delays.</li><li>Paperwork filed with the FCC show the company has quietly been updating its efforts in anticipation of a future launch.</li><li>One possibility is that Facebook's Athena satellite may launch on an Arianespace rocket as soon as March 2020.</li><li>Athena is part of Facebook's efforts to improve internet connectivity around the world.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>Facebook is still determined to go to space - and it could happen within a month.The Silicon Valley social network firm has long harbored plans to launch a satellite, but it has been beset by yearlong delays. Public filings, however, show that Facebook is still actively preparing for a launch. Facebook's experiments with orbital technology are intended as a way to help provide internet access to parts of the world with poor connectivity. It's part of its mission to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/bringing-the-world-closer-together/10154944663901634/">"bring the world closer together"</a> - or in more concrete terms, to expand the total potential market for its services and fuel its future growth and profits. The plans indicate that despite Facebook's years of bruising scandals, its bold, extraterrestrial ambitions remain undimmed. The satellite that's planned for launch is experimental, and only the first step in a broader project to create a network of satellites dedicated to providing people around the world with internet access. If successful, it could portend a future fleet of thousands of Facebook-owned satellites, to rival the likes of Elon Musk's SpaceX or OneWeb.<h2>Facebook has planned to go to space for years - but there have been delays</h2>Facebook's satellite plans have faced repeated hiccups. In September 2016, Facebook contracted with Elon Musk-helmed space firm SpaceX to launch a satellite, <a href="https://time.com/4476416/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-rocket-explosion-satellite/">but the rocket exploded on the launchpad before takeoff</a>. The company has also been working on efforts to build low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites - distinct from the failed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos-6">geosynchronous transfer orbit satellite</a> that exploded - since at least 2016, under the codename Athena, <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/facebook-may-have-secret-plans-to-launch-a-internet-satellite">sleuthing from IEEE Spectrum in May 2018 found</a> and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-confirms-its-working-on-new-internet-satellite/">emails obtained by Wired in July 2018 confirmed</a>. This Athena LEO project has been run through a shell company called PointView Tech LLC, disguising Facebook's involvement. <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=231563&amp;x=">In an application submitted to the FCC in April 2018</a>, lawyers for PointView Tech said that Athena would test new communications tech to "determine whether such satellite communications can effectively provide broadband to unserved and underserved areas throughout the world." It was at that time aiming for a launch "in early 2019" - but that didn't happen. A spokesperson for Space Systems Loral, the company that built the satellite for Facebook, confirmed to Business Insider that the planned 2019 launch never took place.Facebook declined to provide information about launch plans and sent Business Insider the following statment:"While we have nothing to share about specific projects at this time, we believe satellite technology will be an important enabler of the next generation of broadband infrastructure, making it possible to bring broadband connectivity to rural regions where internet connectivity is lacking or non-existent."<h2>Documents indicate Facebook is still preparing to launch, and it could be as soon as March 2020</h2>Despite the various delays and setbacks, Facebook remains committed to the satellite project, as evidenced by <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=243115&amp;x=.">documents that lawyers for PointView tech filed with the FCC in December 2019</a>. They show that Facebook was requesting to modify its "experimental authorization" license, to add <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=243116&amp;x=.">additional Earth stations (in Norway and Antarctica)</a> for the satellite to communicate with, indicating that the firm is still making quiet preparations for an anticipated launch. So why the delay? The problem appears to be issues with Vega, the type of rocket intended to ferry Athena into space. Vega is developed by Arianespace, a French firm, and in July 2019 <a href="https://spacenews.com/arianespace-aims-to-return-vega-to-flight-in-early-2020-after-investigation-pins-july-failure-on-rockets-second-stage/">suffered a launch failure that caused $415 million worth of damage</a>. Vega rocket launches were put on hold for the rest of the year, but the company is now preparing again for launches in 2020.We don't know the Athena launch date for sure - but one seemingly likely possibility is that Facebook's satellite will launch on a proof-of-concept Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) flight that will include 42 different satellite payloads from varying companies.A spokesperson for Arianespace declined to share the full manifest for the rocket, but <a href="https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/spire-selects-arianespace/">other</a> <a href="https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/arianespace-to-launch-the-esail-satellite-for-exactearth-on-vegas-ssms-poc-flight/">confirmed</a> <a href="https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/arianespace-to-launch-the-esail-satellite-for-exactearth-on-vegas-ssms-poc-flight/">payloads</a> <a href="https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/arianespace-to-launch-the-first-striving-small-satellite-for-sitael-on-vegas-ssms-poc-flight/">for</a> <a href="https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/arianespace-and-d-orbit-sign-contract-to-launch-ion-cubesat-carrier-on-vega-ssms-poc-flight/">the</a> SSMS flight have similar low-Earth, sun-synchronous orbits to Athena of around 500km, and similar weights in the roughly 100kg range. The SSMS launch was also originally <a href="https://twitter.com/arianespaceceo/status/1002192020927066112">planned to launch in early 2019</a> but was delayed, like we know Facebook's Athena launch was. The Arianespace spokesperson said this delay was due to the issues Vega had that year, and it is now scheduled for a 2020 launch, which will have the same manifest as was planned for last year.In a press release issued in January 2020, Arianespace said that the SSMS Vega flight may launch "as early as March," and <a href="https://www.rocketlaunch.live/?filter=arianespace">an unofficial online calendar compiled by RocketLaunch.Live</a> has the launch date down as March 23, 2020. (It's not clear what the source of the site's info is, and an Arianespace spokesperson did not respond to a request for clarification on the launch date.)In short: Facebook could entering the final frontier in a little over a month.<h2>Facebook Connectivity is experimenting with a bunch of different options</h2>Facebook's Connectivity unit has explored numerous different ways to improve internet access, though not without some roadbumps.<a href="https://connectivity.fb.com/">Current (publcily disclosed) projects include</a> Terragraph, a service for providing internet in urban environments; Free Basics, a service to provide free, limited internet connectivity in some markets; and the Telecom Infra Project, a collaboration with hundreds of other organisations in the telecoms industry to develop new tech. One of its most high-profile effort was Aquila, a project to build huge, solar-powered drones that could beam wireless internet down to the ground, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aquila-facebook-scraps-plans-build-its-own-internet-drones-2018-6">but it was marred by issues and Facebook ultimately ended its attempts to build the aircraft</a>. (<a href="https://connectivity.fb.com/high-altitude-connectivity/">It continues to work on high-altitude platform station (HAPS) tech</a>, which is fitted on such aircraft, however.)In 2016, Facebook wrote to the FCC about its Connectivity plans, spelling out this multi-strand approach: "Connecting the unconnected will require a wide variety of technical solutions. For example, in dense urban areas, wireless terrestrial systems can efficiently serve end users and support backhaul links. In less dense areas, such as rural areas, where broadband infrastructure must be deployed over wide areas, using high altitude solar-powered aircraft to provide backhaul-type links to terrestrial aggregation points may be part of the optimal solution.It added: "And, in remote, sparsely populated areas, where there are significant gaps in infrastructure and the economic barriers of installing that infrastructure are considerably higher, satellite services may provide the most efficient means to connect."<a href="http://sslmda.com/html/recent_launches.php"></a>For now, there's just one experimental Athena satellite, and it will have a working life of just two years. <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/facebook-may-have-secret-plans-to-launch-a-internet-satellite">IEEE Spectrum pointed out in May 2018</a> that for it to be functionally useful for ordinary people's connectivity needs, it will need to launch thousands.Do you work at Facebook Got a tip? Contact this reporter using a non-work device via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 650-636-6268), encrypted email (robaeprice@protonmail.com), standard email (rprice@businessinsider.com), Telegram/Wickr/WeChat (robaeprice) or Twitter DM (<a href="https://twitter.com/robaeprice">@robaeprice</a>). PR pitches by standard email only, please.<h3>Read more:</h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-hyp3r-saving-instagram-users-stories-tracking-locations-2019-8">Instagram's lax privacy practices let a trusted partner track millions of users' physical locations, secretly save their stories, and flout its rules</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-security-chief-liam-booth-misconduct-allegations-facebook-2019-5">Mark Zuckerberg's personal security chief accused of sexual harassment and making racist remarks about Priscilla Chan by 2 former staffers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-uploaded-1-5-million-users-email-contacts-without-permission-2019-4">Facebook says it 'unintentionally uploaded' 1.5 million people's email contacts without their consent</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-old-posts-mark-zuckerberg-disappeared-2019-3">Years of Mark Zuckerberg's old Facebook posts have vanished. The company says it 'mistakenly deleted' them.</a></li></ul>

Despite delays, Facebook's ambitious plan to build a constellation of satellites isn't dead - and it could launch the first one into space as soon as March 2020

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Spain’s first optical imaging satellite fails to reach orbit as the European rocket breaks down

Prabhjote Gill

Despite delays, Facebook's ambitious plan to build a constellation of satellites isn't dead - and it could launch the first one into space as soon as March 2020

Rob Price

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