Author Archives: Galileo GNSS

End of Early Orbit Phase for Galileo satellite quartet (launch 9)

End of Early Orbit Phase for Galileo satellite quartet (launch 9)The four Galileo satellites launched on December 12 have successfully transitioned from Early Orbit Phase to In Orbit Testing.

On December 12, four Galileo satellites started their journey on an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Spaceport in Kourou. Shortly after leaving the rocket, the satellites – named Nicole, Zofia, Alexandre and Irina – reached stable configuration and established first contact with Earth.

This launch marked the first time that the European GNSS Agency (GSA) was responsible for the Early Orbit Phase (EOP) of the mission. EOP is one of the most important phases of a space mission as it positions the satellites into the correct orbits and gradually switches on and tests the first elements. For example, just days after the launch, the four satellites were transitioned from sun acquisition mode to Earth tracking mode, also known as nominal operational mode (NOM). In this mode, the satellites point to the Earth with all antennas oriented towards the ground. Read more…

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New technology version of EGNOS will harness Galileo for aviation

EGNOS V3 Contract signing

EGNOS V3 Contract signing

The next generation of Europe’s satellite navigation overlay service, EGNOS, will combine use of GPS and Galileo signals to improve accuracy and robustness of navigation for air traffic and other uses where lives are at stake.

A contract was signed on 26th January at ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands for the second  generation  of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, EGNOS V3, planned to enter service in 2025. Read more…

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The path to high GNSS accuracy

For fully autonomous driving to become reality, several technologies will have to reach maturity and be rolled out in concert. One of them is affordable, scalable, and reliable high precision positioning.

The past decades have seen substantial improvements in the performance of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology. In the early 2000s, the time it took to get a first accurate position went from minutes to under thirty seconds. In the latter half of the decade, receiver sensitivity improved dramatically – from -130 dBm to -167 dBm. By 2015, the number of functional positioning satellite constellations had gone from one global constellation in 2000 (the USA’s GPS) to four (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo). This opened the doors to multi-constellation GNSS receivers. The satellite signals, too, have been modernized, and as of 2018, multi-band GNSS will become affordable. These advances set the stage for the next big theme in GNSS: achieving decimeter- or centimeter-level accuracy. Read more…

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Space travel: What happens to the human body?

Astronaut Scott Kelly has spent a total of 520 days in space in his lifetime

Astronaut Scott Kelly has spent a total of 520 days in space in his lifetime

Space is a dangerous and unforgiving place, and spending time away from gravity takes its toll on the human body, as many astronauts have found out after returning to Earth.

But what exactly are the risks?

Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai this week may have briefly grabbed news headlines by announcing he had stretched a staggering 9cm in just three weeks onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

He later admitted he had miscalculated the figure and it was actually just 2cm, but significant height changes are actually normal for astronauts spending time in space. Read more…

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GRICAS, solution for aeronautical search & rescue

GRICASImagine the following: a technical incident occurs on a long-haul commercial flight. The aircraft’s computer identifies the root cause of the problem and activates a distress beacon while the plane is still en route. It sends out a distress signal, picked up by the special payloads on certain navigation satellites (including Galileo), which retransmit these signals to a ground station, called the Local User Terminal (LUT). This terminal receives and processes the warning message, calculates the position of the transmitter based on certain characteristics of the received signal, and sends this data to the Mission Control Center. The MCC then passes on this information to Rescue Coordination Centers (RCC), which are in charge of launching rescue operations by calling on the appropriate organizations. In other words, while the aircraft is still in flight, the entire rescue process is already set up. Read more…

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Arianespace is well suited to the needs of EU institutions

Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace

Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace

By Stéphane Israël*:

Arianespace is well suited to the needs of Europe’s institutions, writes Stéphane Israël.

With 37 years of satellite launches, Arianespace is a shining example of a European success story. While the company has become the world’s reference for commercial space transportation services, its primary objective remains to provide Europe with a reliable, affordable and independent access to space.

With its family of three launchers from the European space port, the heavyweight vehicle Ariane 5, the medium Soyuz and the light Vega, Arianespace is well suited to the needs of European institutions.  Read more…

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Leonardo chosen by ESA as cyber security partner for Galileo

Leonardo chosen by ESA as cyber security partner for GalileoAt the Cybertech Europe conference in Rome, Leonardo announced that the company has been chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) to conduct a study into the management of data security for the Galileo programme. Leonardo will develop a benchmark architecture and define requirements and processes for managing the programme’s information security, in accordance with recent European cyber regulations.

Leonardo’s aim is to support the ESA by defining a state-of-the-art security monitoring system for Galileo, taking into account new mission requirements and new security standards and procedures relevant to the European satellite network. Read more…

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