Monthly Archives: November 2013

Space tourism

After receiving a request in our Twitter account (@GalileoGNSS) by one of our followers, it has been decided to create a section within the blog to answer question raised on the social media that are considered of general interest. All these posts will be tagged as “Other” as they are not directly related with Galileo.

The first question comes from Will Martin (@willbermartin): “What do you expect a Wales-based space portal would bring to the UK?” Read more…

Galileo remote sites

@GalileoGNSS is travelling to some of the Galileo remote sites and is enjoying a lot! The pictures of the site in this post correspond to an island located in the Indian Ocean.

This is a TT&C station (Telemetry Tracking and Control). It is used to communicate with each satellite on a scheme combining regular, scheduled contacts, long-term test campaigns and contingency contacts. It is a 13-meter antenna operating in the 2 GHz Space Operations frequency bands. During normal operations, spread-spectrum modulation will be used, to provide robust, interference free operation. However, when the navigation system of a satellite is not in operation (during launch and early orbit operations or during a contingency) use of the common standard TTC modulation will allow non-ESA TTC stations to be used. In the final FOC phase there will be five TTC site (In IOV phase there were two sites deployed). Read more…

Galileo GPS Agreement

European Commission Press Release Database (28 June 2004):

The European Union and the United States concluded an agreement on GALILEO and GPS at the end of the Summit held in Ireland on 26 June 2004. The agreement on the promotion, provision and use of the two satellite-based navigation systems and related applications that was signed by Commission Vice-President Loyola de Palacio and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, will allow each system to work alongside the other without interfering with its counterpart’s signals and thus give a huge boost to users worldwide. Vice-President Loyola de Palacio said: “This agreement will allow the European project GALILEO to become the world standard for civil and commercial use of satellite navigation; it will offer the best possible level of services to all users”.

After more than 4 years of intensive talks, the results for GALILEO, and, more importantly, users of GALILEO and GPS worldwide, are highly satisfactory. The agreement confirms that GPS and GALILEO services will be fully compatible and interoperable and therefore makes the joint use of GPS and GALILEO and the manufacturing of equipment much easier and cheaper.

GALILEO has now become the de facto world standard of open signals in the GNSS mass market. GALILEO will not need to rely on a “GALILEO-only” user community; instead it will be instantly accessible and used by millions of people who today use GPS. This means that all users of satellite radio-navigation will be able to simultaneously, with only one receiver, use one or the other of the two systems, or both at the same time.

In addition of being the first civil system specifically dedicated to civil users, the additional feature of GALILEO is its commercial nature. The agreement with the United States does confirm the quick introduction of GALILEO in all user segments (mass market and professional) throughout the world. The market potential is indeed considerable: 3 billion receivers and revenues of some € 250 billion per year by 2010 worldwide, and the creation of more than 150.000 high qualified jobs in Europe alone.

The agreement represents a major asset for the business case of the future GALILEO operator expected to finance at least two-third of the deployment of the system (€ 1.4 billion), one-third being financed by the public sector (€ 700 million). Such promising prospects will intensify the current competition between the three pre-selected consortia of companies which are running to get the concession to operate the system.

Results of this competition which is run by, the Galileo Joint Undertaking (the programme’s management-arm), will be disclosed by the Commission in October in view of a decision by the Council in December to move to the successive phases of the programme and open the way for the conclusion of the concession contract in 2005.

Finally, this agreement allows the last system specifications to be set, a crucial aspect for the swift operation of GALILEO. After the current development phase (2 satellites under construction will be launched by the end of 2005 and 2 shortly after), the deployment of the remaining 24 satellites (and related ground stations) is expected by 2008, date at which the system should start operation.

Galileo launch – First Soyuz launch from Europe’s Spaceport

Galileo IOV satellites launch on 21 October 2011 was historic: it was the first Soyuz launch from a spaceport outside of Baikonur in Kazakhstan or Plesetsk in Russia. The site was Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

French Guiana is much closer to the equator, so each launch was benefit from Earth’s spin, increasing the maximum payload into geostationary transfer orbit from 1.7 tonnes to 3 tonnes. Read more…

The Soyuz site at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana

Construction of the Soyuz site began in February 2007, although initial excavation and ground infrastructure work began in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Russian staff arrived in French Guiana in mid-2008 to assemble the launch table, mobile gantry, fuelling systems and test benches.

The first two Soyuz launchers arrived from Russia by sea in November 2009 to be assembled in the new preparation and integration building. Read more…