{"id":235,"date":"2012-10-13T11:05:21","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T11:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/?p=235"},"modified":"2012-10-13T11:05:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T11:05:21","slug":"deployment-of-europes-galileo-constellation-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"Deployment of Europe\u2019s Galileo constellation continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The third and fourth satellites of Europe\u2019s Galileo global navigation satellite system were lofted into orbit on 12 October from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana. They join the first pair of satellites launched a year ago to complete the validation phase of the Galileo programme. ( from esa.com )<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Soyuz ST-B launcher, operated by Arianespace, lifted off at 18:15 GMT (20:15 CEST) from the Guiana Space Centre. All the stages of the Soyuz vehicle performed as planned and the Fregat-MT upper stage released the Galileo satellites into their targeted orbit at close to 23 200 km altitude, 3 hours 45 minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

Galileo is Europe\u2019s own global satellite navigation system. It will consist of 30 satellites and their associated ground infrastructure. The definition, development and IOV phase of the Galileo programme are carried out by ESA, and co-funded by ESA and the European Commission. This phase leads to a mini-constellation of four satellites and a reduced ground segment dedicated to the validation of the overall concept.<\/p>\n

These satellites launched were built by a consortium led by Astrium as prime contractor, with Thales Alenia Space in charge of assembly, integration and testing. The operations are managed by SpaceOpal a joint company of the DLR German Aerospace Center and Italy\u2019s Telespazio, with the early operations of the satellites controlled by a joint ESA and CNES French space agency team in Toulouse, France.<\/p>\n

After initial checks, they will be handed over to the Galileo Control Centres in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and Fucino, Italy, for testing before they are commissioned for the Galileo service validation phase. From a performance point of view, these In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites are the same as the forthcoming satellites.<\/p>\n

With four identical satellites now in orbit, ESA will be able to demonstrate the performance of the Galileo positioning system fully before the deployment of the remaining operational satellites.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the first launch a year ago, Galileo\u2019s technology has proven itself in orbit,\u201d said Didier Faivre, ESA\u2019s Director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related activities.
\n\u201cThanks to the satellites launched today, the testing phase will be completed, and clear the way for rapid full-scale deployment of the constellation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy late 2014, 18 satellites are scheduled to have been launched, by which time early services to Europeans can begin.\u201d Galileo\u2019s Full Operational Capability (FOC) will be reached with 30 satellites (including the four IOVs and in-orbit spares) in 2018.<\/p>\n

The four satellites launched during the IOV phase are the nucleus of the constellation that will then be extended to reach its FOC.<\/p>\n

The FOC phase is fully funded by the European Commission. The Commission and ESA have signed a delegation agreement by which ESA acts as design and procurement agent on behalf of the Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third and fourth satellites of Europe\u2019s Galileo global navigation satellite system were lofted into orbit on 12 October from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana. They join the first pair of satellites launched a year ago to complete the validation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.nkisiland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}