Author Archives: Galileo GNSS

Galileo 13 & 14 reached Europe’s spaceport

Galileo satellites 13 and 14 arriving at Europe's SpaceportThe latest pair of navigation satellites has reached Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, beginning a new Galileo launch campaign, which will culminate in a launch on 24 May.

The 13th and 14th Galileo satellites left ESA’s technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on Monday, safely cocooned within protective air-conditioned containers.

They were taken by road to Luxembourg Airport, where they were loaded aboard a Boeing 747 cargo jet for a dawn takeoff the next morning.

The satellites touched down at Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport in French Guiana at 11:15 on Tuesday local time. Read more…

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Investing in space is good business

Written by Bogdan A. Zdrojewski.

“Over the past 50 years, Europe has had many successes on the space market. The most recent example is the Rosetta satellite mission, which was tasked with entering into a comet’s orbit and releasing a module, which landed on its surface.

Bogdan A. ZdrojewskiMember states are aware of the potential of space technologies, but it’s important to reiterate the impact these could have on economic development improving overall quality of life, as well as the assurance of widely understood security.

In the report I worked on in Parliament’s security and defence subcommittee, I drew special attention to this last element, which is often omitted.

The EU adopted its space strategy in 2007, and thanks to the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, it has competences in the creation and support of space policy. Read more…

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EU must ensure greater use of Galileo

Written by Carlo des Dorides.

Galileo_EUGNSS“Europe’s investment in space delivers vitally important benefits in many areas, including science, defence and in economic growth. Innovation spills over into many sectors, creating jobs and opportunities for Europeans and European business. This opportunity is once again underlined as Galileo moves toward the delivery of Initial Services.

Despite this recognised potential, we struggle to adequately support innovation. If Europe wants to remain a global leader in space, it must become more competitive today. We cannot afford to rest on our past successes.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) actively funds innovation through EU programmes such as Horizon 2020. These initiatives that aim to keep space accessible and safe in the long run, have already made a difference. Read more…

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Ground-based Galileo satellite joins post-launch dress rehearsal

Galileo_Full_Operational_Capability_FOC_satelliteThe navigation satellite set to become the 16th in the Galileo constellation has been taken through a Europe-wide rehearsal for its launch and early operations in space.

Sitting in the cleanroom environment of ESA’s ESTEC technology centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the satellite was last week linked to a trio of sites across the continent: the Galileo control centres in Fucino, Italy and Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, as well as ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

“These System Compatibility Test Campaigns (STSCs) occur on a regular basis,” explained Liviu Stefanov, lead Flight Operations Director for the next Galileo launch in May. “Last December saw a campaign using Read more…

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Galileo 9 and 10 broadcasting navigation messages

Galileo signalsEurope’s ninth and tenth Galileo satellites started broadcasting working navigation messages 29 January. These two satellites were launched together on 11 September last year.

Once safely in orbit and their systems activated, their navigation payloads and search and rescue transponders were subjected to a rigorous process of in-orbit testing, to ensure their performance reached the necessary specifications to become part of the Galileo system.

Radio-frequency measurements of the Galileo signals were made from ESA’s Redu centre in Belgium. The site boasts a 20 m-diameter dish to analyse their signal shape in high resolution. Read more…

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Two more Galileo satellites ready for launch in May

Soyuz Fregat upper stage, Galileo payload and fairing

Another pair of Galileo navigation satellites is scheduled for launch by Soyuz rocket in May, ahead of a quartet on an Ariane 5 in the autumn, bringing the Galileo system a step closer to operational use.

The European Commission asked ESA to look into the feasibility of a Soyuz launch in the first half of the year to speed up the deployment of the constellation and to increase its robustness for delivering initial services.

One satellite is in storage at ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands, having completed all its testing to clear it for flight, with another due to join it very soon. Read more…

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EGNOS protects GNSS timing

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) announces that the EGNOS time service remained stable and properly synchronised to UTC time during a recent GPS timing anomaly on January 26th.

On the 26th of January, users of United States GPS system experienced timing issues after a number of GPS satellites broadcast incorrect UTC correction parameters. According to the US Air Force, the coordinated universal time message that was transmitted was off by 13 microseconds. During this anomaly EGNOS, which serves as an augmentation to the GPS, remained stable and properly synchronised to UTC. Read more…

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