Anew test campaign is getting underway to qualify a modified ignition sequence for the upper stage of Europe's Ariane 5 launch vehicle. The failure of Flight 142 on July 12 was blamed on "a complex fluid mechanics phenomenon" on the Aestus upper-stage engine that had gone undetected in previous launches and during the extensive development test program (AW&ST Aug. 13, p. 32). The incident led to the total loss of Japans BSAT-2b telecommunications satellite and seriously compromised the European Space Agency's Artemis telecom technology satellite mission.
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