FFSCat, a constellation of federated satellite systems, offers the highest investment return, improved revisit time, scalable approach, and graceful performance degradation at the end of the satellites’ life.
FFSCat – providing complementary data to the Sentinel fleet – wins the 2017 Copernicus Masters, the international competition on innovative solutions for business and society based on Earth observation (EO) data. Read more…
SORUS, a novel satellite navigation based solution, enables Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) navigation for a wide range of users while significantly reducing security requirements and Galileo PRS costs per user device. Besides taking the overall win of the 2017 European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), SORUS also won the Special Prize of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and the Bavaria Challenge. Police, Special Forces, and other authorised Galileo PRS users can exploit this application to equip their UAVs with a secure, trustable, and spoofing-resistant positioning solution. Read more…
Elements for Arianespace’s Ariane 5 mission in December have been delivered to the Spaceport in French Guiana for the heavy-lift launcher’s second flight at the service of Galileo.
These components arrived on September in French Guiana aboard the MN Colibri, which is one of two sea-going roll-on/roll-off ships that transport launcher hardware from Europe to the South American launch site for Arianespace’s family of launch vehicles. Read more…
Four of the latest set of Galileo navigation satellites will be launched on Ariane 6 rockets – ESA’s first contract to use Europe’s new vehicle.
The launches are scheduled between the end of 2020 and mid-2021, using two Ariane 62 rockets – the configuration of Europe’s next-generation launch vehicle that is best suited to haul the two 750 kg navigation satellites into their orbits at 23 222 km altitude.
Under development, Ariane 6 is Europe’s newest launcher, designed to extend guaranteed access to space for Europe at a competitive price. It will operate in two configurations, depending on customer needs: Ariane 62 is fitted with two strap-on boosters while Ariane 64 has four.
“Ariane 6 is not only in full development, but it will soon be put to use,” notes Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s Director of Space Transportation. “This contract is a key step in the upcoming ramp-up phase of Ariane 6.”
The Galileos have so far either been launched in pairs by Soyuz from French Guiana or in fours by Ariane 5.
A new Ariane 5 flight is scheduled for the end of this year (12th December), to add four more satellites to the 18-strong constellation already in orbit. This month saw the arrival of the first elements of the rocket in French Guiana, transported aboard the MN Colibri roll-on/roll-off ship. Read more…
Europe’s Galileo navigation constellation will gain an additional eight satellites, bringing it to completion, thanks to a contract signed at the Paris Air and Space Show.
The contract to build and test another eight Galileo satellites was awarded to a consortium led by prime contractor OHB, with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd overseeing their navigation platforms.
This is the third such satellite signing: the first four In Orbit Validation satellites were built by a consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space, while production of the next 22 Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites was led by OHB. Read more…
The recent news of clock failures on both the European Union’s Galileo and IRNSS satellites (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) shows that launching and commissioning new satellite navigation constellations is not a simple business. The news, however, does make it worthwhile asking whether clock failures could have any implications for GNSS users — especially professional users such as in the surveying or GIS industries.
The short answer is that satellite clock failures should not directly impact any users of the Galileo or IRNSS satellites. In the event of all clocks (primary and backup) failing on a single GNSS satellite, the satellite becomes unusable. Read more…
Reports of satellite navigation problems in the Black Sea suggest that Russia may be testing a new system for spoofing GPS. This could be the first hint of a new form of electronic warfare available to everyone from rogue nation states to petty criminals.
On 22 June, the US Maritime Administration filed a seemingly bland incident report. The master of a ship off the Russian port of Novorossiysk had discovered his GPS put him in the wrong spot – more than 32 kilometres inland, at Gelendzhik Airport. Read more…