A satellite hosting NASA's new instrument to study the edge of the Earth's atmosphere successfully reached orbit Thursday, after a communication glitch led scientists to fear the worst. 

According to a statement by Arianespace, a European commercial satellite launching company, the Ariane 5 rocket lifted off uneventfully Thursday evening. Soon after, the company lost contact with the launcher, along with the NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD instrument, hosted by the SES 14, a satellite controlled by Luxembourg-based operator SES.

Communication with two other commercial satellites on board was also severed.

Stephane Israel, Arianespace's chief executive, confirmed the "anomaly" to Spaceflight Now during a live feed of the launch.

About two hours later, Spaceflight Now confirmed the launch of the satellites and that communication with the satellites had been established.

According to NASA, GOLD will investigate the interplay between Earth's upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the lowest reaches of space. It is the first NASA science mission to fly an instrument as a commercially hosted payload.

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NASA said GOLD is the first mission that can provide "observations fast enough to monitor the details of regular, hour-by-hour changes in space weather — not just its overarching climate."

“The first meteorological satellites revolutionized our understanding of — and ability to predict — terrestrial weather,” said Elsayed Talaat, heliophysics chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We anticipate GOLD will give us new, similar insight into the dynamics of the upper atmosphere and our planet’s space environment.”