Two fully operational satellites, which were intended to become a part of Europe's Galileo global positioning system, were launched into incorrect orbits this weekend. The Galileo project was conceived as a way for Europe to cut its dependence on the US' GPS and Russia's GLONASS.

Officials from Arianespace, the company charged with launching the satellites, initially thought everything was done correctly. But according to the Wall Street Journal, two hours after launch it became clear that the two new additions to the Galileo network were in an elliptical, rather than a circular, orbit.

Galileo has been many years in the making, and it will cost the European Commission more than €10 billion ($13.3 billion).

Four Galileo satellites already circle the globe, and the two launched Friday were supposed to be satellites five and six of a network of 30. People with knowledge of the matter speaking to the Journal said that the satellites “may be stranded in unusable orbits and end up having to be destroyed.” Alternatively, the European Space Agency might be able to guide the satellites back into orbit, but such a maneuver would burn up fuel reserves in the process and shorten the lives of the satellites. Sources speaking to the Journal “indicated officials were pessimistic about such maneuvers, but no final decisions had been made.”

Arianespace launches rockets from a base in Kourou, French Guiana and sent these two satellites on a Soyuz ST rocket. The company wrote in a press release on Saturday that the wayward satellites were responding normally despite their incorrect orbit. “Both the Fregat upper stage and the two satellites are in a stable condition and position that entails absolutely no risk for people on the ground,” the company said. “The residual propellants on the Fregat stage have been purged and the stage was depressurized normally.”

“According to the initial analyses, an anomaly is thought to have occurred during the flight phase involving the Fregat upper stage, causing the satellites to be injected into a noncompliant orbit,” Arianespace continued.

As the Journal recounts, “The European Union embarked on Galileo in part out of concern the US could shut off or limit the system's use. In 2000, the US stopped selectively degrading its signal, a practice that could give the US military access to more precise navigational information than the rest of the world.”

The Galileo project has faced many problems over the past several years, from budget issues to manufacturing delays to component failures. Another Galileo satellite launch has been scheduled for December of this year, but with this latest orbit issue, that schedule is far from certain.