Q&A with Guglielmo Aglietti, RemoveDebris principal investigator (members only)

As Japanese ground controllers struggle to restore communications with a tumbling space telescope in orbit, the U.S. military’s space surveillance experts have eliminated one cause for the satellite’s troubles.

A European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off Wednesday with the Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN satellite designed for television broadcasting and airborne connectivity in Europe, and India’s multipurpose GSAT 17 communications satellite. Launch from Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 2115 GMT (5:15 p.m. EDT).

Europe is in the midst of launching the most thorough space-based environmental network ever deployed, with satellites to help officials respond to natural disasters, measure crop yield, monitor the health of oceans and ice caps, and track ozone in the atmosphere. Guido Levrini from ESA spoke to Spaceflight Now about the program on the eve of Sentinel 1B’s launch.