Tag Archives: European Space Agency

European Space Agency (ESA)

Galileo arrives on the Space Station

SCaN Testbed on ISS

SCaN Testbed on ISS

If one’s good, two are better, and this is especially true when it comes to developing new applications for navsat systems like Galileo and GPS. That’s why an experiment on the International Space Station will start receiving signals from both simultaneously.

Satellites of America’s GPS provide signals for navigation and timing services in an enormous variety of applications worldwide – on smartphones, in automobile navigation systems and in economically vital services like aviation, maritime traffic and banking.

Today, GPS is synonymous with satnav, but after years of development and regular launches, Europe’s Galileo navigation system has come of age: its 18 satellites – soon to be 24 plus in-orbit spares – are now transmitting the highly accurate signals necessary to deliver navigation services across a wide range of activities. Read more…

Leave a reply

[vid] Ariane 6, the next generation launch vehicle for Galileo

Artist's view of the two configurations of Ariane 6

Ariane 6 two configurations

ESA and European industry are currently developing a new-generation launcher: Ariane 6. This follows the decision taken at the ESA Council meeting at Ministerial level in December 2014, to maintain Europe’s leadership in the fast-changing commercial launch service market while responding to the needs of European institutional missions.

This move is associated with a change in the governance of the European launcher sector, based on a sharing of responsibility, cost and risk by ESA and industry.

The participating states are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Read more…

Leave a reply

Another eight Galileo satellites for Europe

Signing the contract to build another 8 Galileo satellites

Signing the contract to build another 8 Galileo satellites

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.

These new batch satellites are based on the already qualified design of the previous Galileo FOC satellites, except for changes on the unit level – such as improvements based on lessons learned and reacting to obsolescence of parts.

Read more…

Leave a reply

Two More Satellites Formally Added to Galileo’s Satnav System

Galileo satellite in orbit

Galileo satellite in orbit

Two further satellites, GSAT0207 (SV ID 07) and GSAT0214 (SV ID 05), increasing the total number to 16, have formally become part of Europe’s Galileo satnav system, broadcasting timing and navigation signals worldwide while also picking up distress calls across the planet.

These are the 15th and 16th satellites to join the network, two of the four Galileos that were launched together by Ariane 5 last November (images), and the first additions to the working constellation since the start of Galileo Initial Services in December. Read more…

Leave a reply

Winners of the European Inventor Award 2017 – Radio signals for better satellite navigation

Galileo_team_EIA17Space-based radio navigation positioning has made significant strides in recent decades. It is now poised to make a greater leap thanks to Galileo, Europe’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Signalling technology developed by a team of European engineers not only helps Galileo deliver better accuracy and clear up signal clutter; it also pushes satellite navigation and its features to the next level.

A European team, led by French engineer Laurent Lestarquit and his Spanish colleague José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez and including German Günter Hein and Belgian Lionel Ries, has a unique specialism: sending clear signals from space. A virtual cacophony of radio frequencies is sent down to earth from the more than 50 navigation positioning satellites currently in orbit – including those of the US-led Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and more recently Europe’s Galileo system. This team has helped ensure that signals do not interfere with each other, and that users and developers alike will be able to profit from the next-generation positioning technology that Galileo offers.

The team’s contribution of modulation and spread-spectrum signal technologies forms one of the joint European satellite positioning system’s core components, delivering signals that enhance accuracy, save on satellite power and ensure interoperability with GLONASS and the current GPS and its possible upgrades. Read more…

Leave a reply

Galileo signal team nominated for invention award

Jose_Angel_Avila_Rodriguez_(left)_and_Laurent_Lestarquit_(right)The engineering team behind the signal technology underpinning Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has reached the final of this year’s European Inventor Award, run by the European Patent Office.

The team is led by Spanish engineer José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez – now part of ESA’s Galileo team – and his French colleague Laurent Lestarquit from France’s CNES space agency.

The team also includes German Günter Hein, formerly head of the department studying the evolution of EGNOS and Galileo for ESA, as well as Belgian Engineer Lionel Ries, now in ESA’s technical directorate, as well as French CNES engineer Jean-Luc Issler. Read more…

Leave a reply

Ariane 5 ES

Ariane 5 ES Galileo

Ariane 5 ES Galileo

The Ariane 5 ES (Evolution Storable) is derived from the generic Ariane 5 but uses a more powerful lower composite and a small upgraded storable propellant stage, allowing reignition and long coast phases.

This reignition capability enables the injection of a cluster of Galileo satellites into their operational orbit.

After releasing its payload, a final burn allows the empty upper stage to deorbit and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere or move into another safe ‘graveyard orbit’. Read more…

Leave a reply