Two commercial satellites and a NASA Earth-observation instrument managed to reach orbit despite a scare during liftoff today (Jan. 25).

NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument and the SES-14 and Al Yah 3 communications satellites launched atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket this evening from Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. GOLD, which is a bit bigger than a microwave, rode piggyback on SES-14.

About 9 minutes after liftoff, the outlook turned grim: Arianespace lost contact with the rocket's upper stage, leading to speculation that the payloads had been lost. But everything turned out all right in the end, according to representatives of the France-based launch provider. [NASA Goes for 'GOLD' to Scan the Border of Earth and Space]

An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket carrying the SES-14 communications satellite, with NASA's GOLD instrument, and the Al Yah 3 satellite lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Jan. 25, 2018. (Image credit: Arianespace)

"A few seconds after ignition of the upper stage, the second tracking station located in Natal, Brazil, did not acquire the launcher telemetry. This lack of telemetry lasted throughout the rest of powered flight," Arianespace representatives wrote in a statement a few hours after launch.

"Subsequently, both satellites were confirmed separated, acquired and they are on orbit. SES-14 and Al Yah 3 are communicating with their respective control centers," they added. "Both missions are continuing."

GOLD will study Earth's upper atmosphere, especially the temperatures in the ionosphere and thermosphere, from its perch in geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) up. The instrument's observations should allow researchers to better understand this region and how it's affected by solar activity, NASA officials have said.

GOLD is the first NASA science mission ever to fly as a "hosted payload" on a commercial satellite, agency officials said.

"Being on hosted commercial satellites gives us, NASA, a new cost-effective tool in our toolbox for doing science," Elsayed Talaat, heliophysics chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a teleconference yesterday (Jan. 24). "There are still many times when we would have to build the satellite and do the launch ourselves, but the more tools we have to get into space, the better for our overall science program."

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