This second Ariane flight, conducted on October 30, 1997, provided a full evaluation of the launcher through the operation of all stages.A spin in the boundary layer of the Vulcain engine exhaust induced a strong roll motion on the core stage after release of the solid boosters.This torque could not be counterbalanced by the launcher’s attitude control system, and caused premature shutdown of the core stage’s propulsion system.The upper stage burned its propellant to depletion of its reserves but couldn’t compensate the performance loss and the payload was released on a degraded transfer orbit.
The phenomenon that caused the roll torque was identified, modeled and corrected after a series of ground tests.

The solid rocket boosters were recovered by the Recovery ship O.S.V. Olgui 1.
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