GPS World

Tag: Galileo payload

  • SSTL Signs €80M Contract with OHB for Second Batch of Galileo Payloads

    Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) Director of Telecommunications & Navigation, John Paffett, has today signed a contract with Ingo Engeln, member of the Executive Board of OHB System AG at the Farnborough International Airshow, for the construction of a further eight navigation payloads for the European Galileo programme.

    Under the contract, worth approximately €80 million, SSTL will construct the navigation payloads for the second batch of Full Operational Capability satellites (Work Order No. 2), continuing a successful cooperation between the two companies to build the first 14 satellites (Work Order No. 1) under the supervision of the European Space Agency (ESA).

    Matt Perkins, CEO of SSTL, commented, “We value our role in the Galileo programme greatly. SSTL is committed to the FOC programme and together with OHB we are making great strides towards the completion of the first satellites — a momentum which we will carry forward with these next eight payloads.”

    "It is a pleasure to witness this signature, it shows OHB and SSTL are preparing at full speed the building of the additional eight satellites ordered at the beginning of 2012 for the GALILEO constellation. These will complement the order of 14 satellites initiated in 2010," said Giuliano Gatti, head of the ESA Galileo Space Segment Procurement Office.

    Today’s contract formalizes arrangements between the two companies following the award of Work Order No. 2 to the OHB-SSTL team by Antonio Tajani, European Commission vice president in February of this year. Work has already begun on the new batch of payloads and the first is due for delivery in early 2014.

    SSTL is responsible for the navigation payloads that will provide all of Galileo’s services. Assembled and tested at SSTL’s Kepler Technical Facility in the UK, the sophisticated payloads are based on European-sourced equipment, including highly accurate atomic clocks, navigation signal generator, high-power traveling wave tube amplifiers, and antennas.

    The SSTL-OHB team is currently integrating the first of the FOC Work Order No. 1 satellites in at OHB’s facilities in Bremen, Germany, which are scheduled for launch next year.

    The Full Operational Capability phase of the Galileo program is managed and fully funded by the European Union. The Commission and ESA have signed a delegation agreement by which ESA acts as design and procurement agent on behalf of the commission.

  • First Payload Ready for Next Batch of Galileo Satellites


    These payload panels for the first Galileo Full Operational Capability satellite are undergoing
    final testing in the Assembly Integration Test hall at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in
    Guildford, UK, in April 2012 before being boxed up for shipment to prime contractor OHB in Germany.

    The first of 14 Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) navigation payloads has been shipped from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in the United Kingdom to prime contractor OHB System AG in Bremen, Germany, according to the European Space Agency. The payload, which provides Galileo’s precision positioning measurements and services to users, will then be added to the waiting satellite platform.

    “The payload for the fifth satellite in the Galileo constellation is ready,” said Didier Faivre, ESA’s director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities. “While the next two satellites to be launched are currently undergoing testing, the next ones are being built. Another important step forward for the programme was made today.”

    The SSTL payload is engineered to provide all Galileo navigation services, and is based on European atomic clocks, navigation signal generators, high-power amplifiers and antennas. “The delivery of our first Galileo payload is an important milestone towards achieving full satellite qualification at the end of the year,” commented Matt Perkins, SSTL CEO.

    The first two Galileo satellites entered orbit October 21, 2011, with two more due at the end of this summer. These initial satellites carry payloads built by Astrium UK in Portsmouth, with Thales Alenia Space in Italy integrating them with their satellite platforms.

    The new satellites are the follow-up batch of Galileo satellites, planned to begin launches in 2014. Once all 14 are in orbit, the 18-satellite Galileo constellation will achieve Initial Operational Capability and will be able to provide initial navigation services — the full range of services will be available once all 30 satellites are in place in 2018.

    In addition to these first 14 FOC satellites, the OHB–SSTL consortium was awarded a contract to build a further eight satellites for the Galileo system in February this year.