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…
Galileo IOV satellites launch on 21 October 2011 was historic: it was the first Soyuz launch from a spaceport outside of Baikonur in Kazakhstan or Plesetsk in Russia. The site was Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
French Guiana is much closer to the equator, so each launch was benefit from Earth’s spin, increasing the maximum payload into geostationary transfer orbit from 1.7 tonnes to 3 tonnes. Read more…
Construction of the Soyuz site began in February 2007, although initial excavation and ground infrastructure work began in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Russian staff arrived in French Guiana in mid-2008 to assemble the launch table, mobile gantry, fuelling systems and test benches.
The first two Soyuz launchers arrived from Russia by sea in November 2009 to be assembled in the new preparation and integration building. Read more…
Late last year, Galileo program managers laid out an ambitious schedule of launches, including two dual-satellite launches this year. They wanted 14 to 18 FOC (Full Operational Capability) spacecraft in place by the end of 2014. Target difficult to achieve assuming the missing of the planned september/october 2013 launch, postponed to december. Even this last milestone seems quite unlikely to meet.
The first FOC Galileo satellite is under test at the ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, It has been acknowledged that the new-generation spacecraft’s launch will not occur until December 28, and even that date looks highly unlikely. Read more…
GIOVE-B (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) was launched by a Soyuz rocket from Baiknour on 27 April 2008, carrying the most accurate atomic clock ever flown into space at that moment.
The 500 kg satellite was left into a circular orbit at an altitude of 23,173 km, inclined at 56 degrees to the Equator, 3 hours and 45 minutes after the launch. It makes a complete journey around the Earth in 14 hours and 3 minutes. Read more…
It was on 28 December 2005 when the fist Galileo satellite GIOVE-A (Galileo in-orbit validatión element – A, formerly known as GSTB-V2/A), was placed in orbit at an altitude of 23,260 kilometers by a Russian Soyuz rocket that lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Read more…