Final functional testing of Galileo satellites has been completed at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The fuelling of the two satellites, allowing them to fine-tune their orbits and maintain their altitude over the course of their 12-year lifetimes, took place on 7–8 August. Read more…
The next pair of Galileo satellites are due to be launched together on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana on 21 August, advancing the deployment of Europe’s own satellite navigation constellation.
Following launch, the most crucial point in the flight comes when the two satellites separate from their upper stage and the Launch and Early Operations (LEOP) phase begins, run from ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. Read more…
The Galileo Open Service Signal In Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD) contains the publicly available information on the Galileo Signal In Space. It is intended for use by the Galileo Open Service (OS) user community and specifies the interface between the Galileo Space Segment and the Galileo User Segment. Read more…
The world’s population is expected to grow from almost 7 billion today to over 9 billion by 2050. In order to feed this population, the United Nations says farmers must produce 70 percent more food than they are today.
“To meet this future demand the world’s farmers must increase their agricultural productivity,” said Christian Radons of farm machinery manufacturer CLAAS. “This demand can only be met if we embrace new technologies such as satellite powered precision farming.” Read more…
With the Galileo constellation rapidly taking shape, the European Union has opened lines of communication with countries in North Africa and the Middle East with a view to assisting their governments and businesses to use the satellite services that extend across the Mediterranean. The services available to countries will be Galileo and EGNOS. The EGNOS system corrects typical GNSS errors such as the ionosphere disturbing the signal and slight discrepancies between the clocks to provide highly accurate positioning data and integrity information. Read more…
Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, and Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General for Enterprise and Industry at the European Commission, during the signature of the delegation agreement on the deployment phase of the European satellite radionavigation programme Galileo, and the signature of the 4th amendment to the delegation agreement on the further implementation of the European satellite navigation programme EGNOS, at ESA headquarters in Paris, on 16 July 2014.
Signature ESA/EU Delegation Agreements
Billions of satnav position fixes are performed daily, but determining your place in the world using Galileo system is quite new. So ESA offered to issue certificates for the very first 50 Galileo fixes, provoking responses from across the whole world.
The surprise was the extent of Galileo’s reach. While half the applications came from Galileo’s home continent, others came from the rest of the world, including Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, New Zealand, Russia, USA and Vietnam. Read more…