Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2015 to Question 219924, what the nature of the launch anomaly was; and what the result of the full inquiry was.

The root cause of the launch anomaly that affected the 5th Galileo launch on 22 August 2014 was a design fault leading to a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis.

As a result of the inquiry the system thermal analyses were re-examined and the design fault corrected. The Inquiry Board recommended measures that would allow a return to flight for the Soyuz launch vehicle. The Commission now aims to resume Galileo launches shortly.