The two BeiDou-2/Compass satellites launched on 18 September are now in their circular medium Earth orbits and have started transmitting navigation signals. Several stations participating in the International GNSS Service’s Multi-GNSS Experiment as well as some in the Cooperative Network for GNSS Observation started tracking the satellites on 26 September.
From NORAD/JSpOC, we have the following orbits for the new satellites:
Satellite M5 is using PRN code 13 and M6 is using PRN code 14.
A plot showing the argument of latitude vs. longitude of ascending node for the BeiDou-2/Compass MEO satellites, including the M1/C30 test satellite, can be downloaded.
The plane spacing for the operational satellites is about 120 degrees. The slot spacings seem to be about 45 degrees.
GPS III SATELLITE, artist’s rendering, courtesy Lockheed Martin.
Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin successfully completed the first launch readiness exercise for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites. The exercise is a key milestone demonstrating the team remains on schedule to achieve launch availability in 2014, the companies said.
The Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellites and the Raytheon-developed next generation GPS operational control system, known as OCX, are critical elements of the U.S. Air Force’s effort to affordably replace aging GPS satellites while improving capability to meet the evolving demands of military, commercial and civilian users worldwide. This is the first space and ground enterprise successfully building the ground control and space vehicles by two independent prime contractors.
The launch readiness exercise, completed over a three-day period by mission operations personnel, validated the basic satellite command and control functions, tested the software and hardware interfaces and demonstrated basic on-console procedures required for space vehicle contacts during the launch and early orbit mission. The event sets the stage for the first GPS III satellite’s mission readiness timeline, which includes five short-duration exercises and six, five-day mission rehearsals leading up tolaunch.
To achieve first launch availability in the 2014 timeframe, the U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin and Raytheon contracts in January of this year to provide a Launch and Checkout Capability (LCC) for launch and early on-orbit testing of all GPS III satellites. At the heart of the LCC is Raytheon’s Launch and Checkout System that will provide satellite command and control capability, an integral part of OCX’s support of the first GPS III launch.
Rockets on the Pad
As this magazine goes to press on September 17, several GNSS satellite launches are pending, and may have already occurred by the time you read this. Launch dates this fall for GNSS satellites in the coming season are as follows, according to various, not always official, sources. Compilation courtesy of CANSPACE.
Compass M2 and M5. September 18, 18:12 UTC (speculative).
GSAT-10. Carrying a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) transponder for the GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation system (GAGAN), a planned implementation of a regional SBAS by the Indian government: September 21.
Compass G6. No earlier than October 1.
GPS IIF-3. October 4. Launch window: 12:10-12:29 UTC.
Galileo IOV FM3 and FM4. October 10, 18:31 UTC.
Luch-5B. For the Russian SBAS. Originally scheduled for October 15, launch has slipped to no earlier than November 1 due to an issue with the Briz-M upper stage, which caused the loss of the Telkom-3 and Ekspress-MD2 communication satellites during their launch on August 6.
GLONASS-K1 (block K2s). November 14.
The fourth Galileo flight model satellite is unloaded at Cayenne Airport in French Guiana August 17. (ESA/EADS Astrium, Raoul Kieffer)
Javad Ashjaee, founder and CEO of JAVAD GNSS, filed a September 7 letter with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning his company’s development of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components. He stated “I hope this will be helpful in establishing realistic guidelines for the characteristics of high-precision GNSS receivers that will be used in critical applications.”
The letter reads, in part:
“We have improved our previous L1 filter and have extended the design to include all commercial GNSS bands.”
“Our filter . . . protects GPS L1, Galileo L1 and GLONASS L1 bands. It brings in all the useful signals intact and rejects out of band signals with the slope of about 12 dB/Mhz. Similarly . . . our filter . . . . protects GPS L2, GPS L5, GLONASS L2 and Galileo L5 and has slope of about 9 dB/Mhz.
“These filters not only protect GNSS signals against all LightSquared signals (10L, 10H and 10R handsets) but also from all similar signals that may appear near all commercial GNSS bands in the future. We are proud that our filters help allow better usage of these precious bands, in particular for broadband wireless communication that our country desperately needs.
“These filters apply to wideband high precision GNSS receivers and the cost is even less than earlier conventional filters. The case of narrow-band low precision receivers (e.g. Garmin) is much simpler, as has been demonstrated by GPS receivers in more than 300 million cell phones and mobile devices which are not affected by LightSquared signals. The low precision receivers (L1 C/A code only) require filter slopes 10 times less steep than those presented here and do not necessitate additional costs.”
Galileo Headquarters Moves to Prague
On September 6, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) inaugurated its new premises in Prague, Czech Republic. Previously headquartered in Brussels, the headquarters of the Galileo program moved its seat to Prague this summer, as agreed by the EU heads of state and government in December 2010.
Galileo is expected to be partly operational by the end of 2014. Two in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites will be launched in October, bringing the total in space to four, sufficient for initial check-outs. Beginning in 2013, four more Galileo satellites will be launched every six months until the network of 30 is completed in 2020.
GSA ensures security of satellites and prepares ground for new GNSS products. The agency is responsible for a number of implementation tasks for the European Satellite Navigation programmes Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which are managed by the European Commission. Its two main tasks are:
Security accreditation of satellites, launchers, and sites, and the operation of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre, and
Market development for the European satellite navigation systems, such as new products and services possible using Internet access to satellite navigation data, among others.
Future Role. A European Commission (EC) proposal for revising the GNSS Regulation foresees that operational responsibility for the GNSS programmes will be gradually transferred from the EC to the GSA over the next multi-annual financial framework (2014-2020). This represents a reversal of an earlier move, or a restoration of a previous state; after delays and budget disputes with manufacturers during the tentative public-private partnership (PPP) phase, the European Commission took direct control of the Galileo program, effectively sidelining the GSA.
The transfer of responsibility will start with EGNOS in 2014, and already a number of preparatory tasks have been allocated to the GSA, including the procurement for the future operations of EGNOS.
To carry out these new functions, the GSA’s staff is expected to increase from about 60 today to more than 180 by the end of next financial framework in 2020.
Budget. The GSA has an annual budget of about €12.75 million ($16.75 million) in 2012, plus €34.4 million ($45 million) for exploitation activities.
According to European Commission calculations, a total budget of € 7 billion ($9.2 billion) is necessary to complete the deployment phase of the Galileo programmes and finance the exploitation phase of the GNSS programmes over the 2014-2020 period.
Compass Energizes China’s Economy
China’s Beidou/Compass system will spur the country’s economic development in the satellite-navigation industry, geoinformation, and location-based services, according to an article in China Daily. China’s civil navigation providers are likely to experience rapid growth during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period.
The deputy director-general of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation said the government is likely to introduce policies to help the geoinformation industry grow.
“In addition, the nation’s self-developed satellite navigation network, the Beidou Navigation System, will come into commercial use by the end of this year, a move that may stimulate the development of the geoinformation industry in China.”
Aviation NextGen May Show Slow ROI
An inspector from the U.S. Department of Transportation testified in Congress that benefits from the GPS-based air traffic control system Next Gen may take longer to realize than had been expected. Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has improved its management of the modernization program, years of delays and cost over-runs have left airlines dragging their feet in turn over multibillion-dollar equipment upgrades needed for the new system to work.
The inspector stated the investment will be worth the taxpayer cost in the long run, and will produce significant safety and scheduling benefits. U.S. air travel is expected to nearly double over the next two decades, bringing an unbearable burden onto the current air traffic control system, if not significantly upgraded.
By 2020, the new system is expected to reduce delays by 38 percent compared with the current system; airlines, passengers, and taxpayers are estimated tosave $24 billion.
The FAA plans to spend $2.4 billion over the next five years on a collection of six programs evolving from an outdated, radar-based system to one that uses GPS and telecommunications advances for precision tracking, making routes more direct, eliminating many weather delays, and enabling planes to fly safely at closer distances. Once fully in place, the modernization program will save 1.4 billion gallons of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 14 million metric tons, the FAA says.
However, planes must be equipped with new equipment at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per aircraft. NextGen doesn’t start yielding full benefits until a critical mass of planes have the new technology.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSAT-10 geostationary communications satellite was launched from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 28 September at 21:18 UTC. The dual-satellite launch also carried the Astra 2F direct-to-home broadcast satellite into orbit for Luxembourg-based operator SES.
GSAT-10 contains a payload to support the Indian GPS and GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) satellite-based augmentation system. The satellite will likely use PRN code 128 from its orbital slot at 83 degrees east longitude.
NORAD/JSpOC is tracking four objects from the launch, all in geostationary transfer orbits:
The two satellites are accompanied by the Sylda 5 dual-payload adapter and the ESC-A upper stage of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. It’s not yet known which objects are which.
Once GSAT-10’s GAGAN L-band payload is activated, the satellite will be tracked by stations of the International GNSS Service’s Multi-GNSS Experiment in addition to those of the official GAGAN monitoring and control network.
The following is from a press release issued by ISRO:
“ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) took over the command and control of the GSAT-10 immediately after the injection. Preliminary health checks on the various subsystems of the satellite, namely, Power, Thermal, Command, Sensors, Controls, etc., were performed and all the parameters were found satisfactory. Following this, the satellite was oriented towards the Earth and the Sun using the onboard propulsion system. The satellite is in good health.
“In the coming five days, orbit raising maneuvers will be performed to place the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit with required inclination with reference to the equator. The satellite will be moved to the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using the satellite propulsion system in a three step approach.
“After the completion of orbit raising operations, the two solar panels and both the dual gridded antenna reflectors of GSAT-10 will be deployed for further tests and operations. It is planned to experimentally turn on the communication payloads in the second week of October 2012.
“After the successful completion of all in-orbit tests, GSAT-10 will be ready for operational use by November 2012. GSAT-10 will be positioned at 83deg East orbital location along with INSAT-4A and GSAT-12. The operational life of GSAT-10 is expected to be 15 years nominal.
“GSAT-10 Satellite has 30 Communication Transponders [12 in Ku-band, 12 in C-band and 6 in Extended C-Band]. Besides, it has a Navigation payload “GAGAN” that would provide GPS signals of improved accuracy (of better than 7 meters) to be used by the Airports Authority of India for Civil Aviation requirements. GSAT-10 is the second satellite in INSAT/GSAT constellation with GAGAN payload after GSAT-8, launched in May 2011.”
The internal newspaper of ISS Reshetnev, Siberian Satellite, has reported on the status of current and future manufacturing of GLONASS satellites (loosely translated):
“A federal target program, approved by the Russian Government, has provided measures to maintain and develop the GLONASS system. The Reshetnev Company from 2012 to 2020 will manufacture 15 “Glonass-M” satellites and 22 “Glonass-K”. The work in this direction is taking place at ISS at full speed. Now the company is making space apparatus “Glonass-M” No. 50 [likely to be known as 750 once launched] and has signed contracts with related enterprises for the supply of equipment for a few more satellites in this series. [ISS] has already completed the manufacture of satellites “Glonass-M” No. 47, No. 48, No. 49. Routine tests confirmed compliance characteristics of their design and with operational documentation. The space vehicles have been put in the assembly shop for safekeeping. [ISS] has sent a next-generation navigation satellite “Glonass-K” No. 12L to the spaceport. A decision on the launch date of the navigation satellites will be made by Roscosmos after an analysis of the [state of the] GLONASS constellation.”
Note that there is a reserved launch slot for the GLONASS-K satellite at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 14 November.
China successfully launched two BeiDou-2/Compass MEO satellites Tuesday at 19:10:04 UTC. The satellites are designated Compass-M5 and Compass-M6. They are also referred to BeiDou-14 and BeiDou-15.
UPDATE: More details have emerged on yesterday’s BeiDou-2/Compass satellite launch. According to Web sources, the new satellites will occupy slots 7 and 8 in Plane A of the Compass MEO orbit design. The existing operational Compass MEO satellites, MEO-3 and MEO-4 occupy slots 3 and 4 in Plane B, 120 degrees to the west of Plane A. The Compass MEO constellation will eventually consist of 24 primary satellites, eight in each of three equally spaced planes. It is reported that the satellites now use Chinese-made atomic clocks.
The exact time of yesterday’s launch was 19:10:04.179 UTC. NORAD/JSpOC is tracking four objects from the launch: the satellites, the adapter, and the third stage of the launch vehicle. They are all in elliptical transfer orbits at the present time and the satellites will likely transfer to their MEO orbits within the next few days.
According to a Compass official, the current generation of Compass navigation satellites has a predicted lifetime of eight years. This will be increased to 11-12 years for future models.
Compass managers now claim that the 5 GEO + 5 IGSO +4 MEO initial configuration will have good robustness and economic efficiency for such a regional navigation system. They state that “[T]he four MEO satellites increases the repeat coverage for users: the probability for position dilution of precision being less than three is now at 74.89 percent for more than 23 hours per day, up from 38.55 percent earlier this year.”
The final Compass GEO satellite for the initial constellation deployment, GEO-6, is scheduled for launch in October of this year.
The fourth China Satellite Navigation Conference (CSNC 2013) has issued a call for papers for the May 15–17, 2013, event in Wuhan, China.
The theme of CSNC 2013 is “BeiDou Application — Opportunities and Challenges.” The event will include an academic exchange and a commercial exhibition and technical forum.
The deadline for submitting abstracts is October 31, 2012. Full papers are due December 20. Authors whose papers have been accepted will be notified by the end of February 2013. A template for the papers and additional information on the event are available on the CSNC conference website.
The Munich Navigation Satellite Summit will be held June 18–20, 2013, in the Residenz München, Munich, Germany. It has been established as a top European and International conference with global impact, featuring invited high-ranking worldwide speakers from industry, science and governments dealing with the directions of satellite navigation now and in the future.
The Summit starts on June 18 with the Exhibition Opening and Champagne Reception at 16.30 hrs. The technical programme of the conference starts with the Opening Plenary Panel discussing the topic “GNSS – New Challenges” at 17.15 hrs. Afterwards the Bavarian State Reception in the famous ”Residenz München” is giving opportunities for networking.
The technical program of the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit includes plenary discussions among invited speakers and presents a concise update on the main activities in worldwide satellite navigation systems, in particular on
Implementation of the European satellite navigation system Galileo
Modernization of the US Global Positioning System (GPS IIF, GPS III)
Status and modernization of the Russian Global Satellite Navigation System
GLONASS
Developments of new global and regional systems like the Chinese COMPASS, the Japanese QZSS and the Indian IRNSS
Space Based Augmentation systems (SBAS)
Legal issues of privacy devises and GNSS re-transmitters
Getting the centimeter on global scale (Precise Point Positioning)
Design of future navigation systems: Will autonomous sensors come to the fore
GNSS monitoring of the system earth and natural disasters
Integrated applications of GNSS and Earth Observation
The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit will further highlight the creation of new applications and services in
satellite navigation, in combination with
telecommunication and
information technology, in particular geo-information technology
Various sessions will feature discussions among invited panellists talking about perspectives and critical issues in various rapidly growing application scenes of satellite navigation, in particular with Galileo. Brief presentations and statements of the panellists are initiating each session. An interactive question and answer period with the auditorium is closing the topic.
The Radio Navigation Systems & Techniques Section of the Directorate of Technical and Quality Management announces the Sixth Workshop on Satellite Navigation Technology, NAVITEC 2012, December 5-7, at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
NAVITEC 2012 will also include the “GNSS Signals and Signal Processing Workshop,” in coordination with CNES, DLR, and UFAF.
Javad Ashjaee, founder and CEO of JAVAD GNSS, has filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning his company’s development of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components. He states “I hope this will be helpful in establishing realistic guidelines for the characteristics of high-precision GNSS receivers that will be used in critical applications.”
Below is the full text of the letter.
September 7, 2012
The Honorable Julius Genachowski
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
National Telecommunications & Information Administration
United States Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dear Chairman Genachowski and Assistant Secretary Strickling:
In this communication I want to inform you of the current status of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components. I hope this will be helpful in establishing realistic guidelines for the characteristics of high precision GNSS receivers that will be used in critical applications.
We have improved our previous L1 filter and have extended the design to include all commercial GNSS bands.
Figure left above is our filter that protects GPS L1, Galileo L1 and GLONASS L1 bands. It brings in all the useful signals intact and rejects out of band signals with the slope of about 12 dB/Mhz. Similarly, Figure right above is our filter that protects GPS L2, GPS L5, GLONASS L2 and Galileo L5 and has slope of about 9 dB/Mhz.
These filters have been extensively tested with five different innovative tests and prove that the filters also improve the performance of GNSS receivers. These extensive innovative tests are embedded in the receivers that we mass-produce today and every user can test their receivers in all environments. These tests are much more extensive than those previously employed by PNT and other organizations. These embedded tests are not only much more extensive, but it takes only a few minutes to perform these by any novice user by clicking some receiver buttons. Compare that to the limited tests by PNT and others that took weeks to perform and needed experts with very expensive equipment in some laboratories to perform.
These filters not only protect GNSS signals against all LightSquared signals (10L, 10H and 10R handsets) but also from all similar signals that may appear near all commercial GNSS bands in the future. We are proud that our filters help allow better usage of these precious bands, in particular for broadband wireless communication that our country desperately needs.
These filters apply to wideband high precision GNSS receivers and the cost is even less than earlier conventional filters. The case of narrow-band low precision receivers (e.g. Garmin) is much simpler, as has been demonstrated by GPS receivers in more than 300 million cell phones and mobile devices which are not affected by LightSquared signals. The low precision receivers (L1 C/A code only) require filter slopes 10 times less steep than those presented here and do not necessitate additional costs.
In summary, the technology exists today of improved filter design and better performing GNSS receivers and can actually be done at a cost lower than current conventional GNSS receiver filter designs. I trust that the information that I have presented can be used in establishing the performance guidelines and requirements for all GNSS receivers used in critical applications.
I also would like to invite your representatives to ION-2012 GNSS conference where we present details and answer questions at 2:00 PM on September 20.
Regards,
Javad Ashjaee, Ph.D.
CEO, Javad GNSS
San Jose, California
USA
Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed the first launch readiness exercise for the U.S. Air Force’s next generation GPS III satellites. The exercise is a key milestone demonstrating the team remains on schedule to achieve launch availability in 2014, the companies said.
The Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellites and the Raytheon-developed next generation GPS operational control system, known as OCX, are critical elements of the U.S. Air Force’s effort to affordably replace aging GPS satellites while improving capability to meet the evolving demands of military, commercial and civilian users worldwide. This is the first space and ground enterprise successfully building the ground control and space vehicles by two independent prime contractors.
The launch readiness exercise, completed over a three day period by mission operations personnel, validated the basic satellite command and control functions, tested the software and hardware interfaces and demonstrated basic on-console procedures required for space vehicle contacts during the launch and early orbit mission. The event sets the stage for the first GPS III satellite’s mission readiness timeline, which includes five short-duration exercises and six, five-day mission rehearsals leading up tolaunch.
“Completion of our first GPS III launch readiness exercise is a major milestone for the entire GPS enterprise and is a solid indictor that our space and ground segments are well synchronized,” said Col Bernie Gruber, the director of the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning Systems Directorate.
To achieve first launch availability in the 2014 timeframe, the U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin and Raytheon contracts in January of this year to provide a Launch and Checkout Capability (LCC) for launch and early on-orbit testing of all GPS III satellites. At the heart of the LCC is Raytheon’s Launch and Checkout System that will provide satellite command and control capability, an integral part of OCX’s support of the first GPS III launch.
“The completion of our first launch readiness exercise is an important milestone for the entire GPS enterprise,” said Keoki Jackson, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area. “This achievement is a testament to efficient planning and synchronization by the U.S. Air Force and demonstrates that we are on track to deliver critical GPS III capabilities to military, commercial and civilian users worldwide.”
“This milestone represents the hard work and dedication of the entire GPS III and OCX government-industry team,” stated Ray Kolibaba, a vice president of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business and GPS OCX program manager. “This is another demonstration of the rapid progress we’re making on OCX development, while maintaining GPS space-ground enterprise alignment. I’m confident that we’ll be prepared to support the first GPS III launch with an efficient, evolvable and secure ground control system built independently.”
The GPS III team is led by the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Air Force Space Command, based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.
On September 6, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) inaugurated its new premises in Prague, Czech Republic, in the presence of Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, in charge of Industry and Enterprise, and Minister of Transport Pavel Dobeš. Previously headquartered provisionally in Brussels, the headquarters of the Galileo program moved its seat to Prague over this summer, as had been agreed by the EU heads of state and government on December 10, 2010.
Galileo is expected to be partly operational by the end of 2014.
Tajani said two satellites will be launched in October, and beginning in 2013 four more Galileo satellites will be launched every six months until the network of 30 is completed in 2020.
Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites Flight Model 3 and 4 being worked on at the Guiana Space Centre on 27 August 2012. Multi-layer insulation is being applied to FM3. (Credits: Astrium/Raoul Kieffer)
GSA ensures security of satellites and prepares ground for new GNSS products. The agency is responsible for a number of implementation tasks for the European Satellite Navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), which are managed by the European Commission. Its two main tasks are:
Security (security accreditation of satellites, launchers, and sites, and the operation of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre), and
Market Development for the European satellite navigation systems (for example, see MEMO/12/601, New products and services possible using Internet access to satellite navigation data).
Additionally, the GSA has been assigned other tasks by the commission by delegation, for instance promoting GNSS applications and services, supporting the development of a Public Regulated Service (PRS) and preparing the exploitation of the GNSS systems.
Security of Galileo Programme. The GSA’s security accreditation activities are of key importance for the satellite launches. After a successful first launch of two satellites on October 21, 2011, the “In-Orbit Validation” phase will be accomplished with a second launch of two satellites on October 10, 2012. From 2013 on, the deployment of the satellite infrastructure will continue faster, with several launches per year until the full constellation of 30 satellites (which includes six in-orbit spares) is reached before the end of the decade.
Future role of theGSA. A commission proposal for revising the GNSS Regulation, which is now before Parliament and Council, foresees that operational responsibility for the GNSS Programmes will be gradually transferred from the European Commission to the GSA over the next multi-annual financial framework (2014-2020). This process will start with EGNOS in 2014, and already a number of preparatory tasks have been allocated to the GSA, including the procurement for the future operations of EGNOS.
To carry out these new functions, the GSA’s staff is expected to increase over the coming years from about 60 today to more than 180 by the end of next financial framework in 2020.
The Budget. The GSA has an annual budget of about €12,750 million (2012). In addition, it manages the budget for activities that are entrusted to it under delegation from the European Commission. These amount to €34.4 million for exploitation activities.
According to the commission’s calculations, a total budget of € 7000 million is necessary to complete the deployment phase of the Galileo programmes and finance the exploitation phase of the GNSS programmes over the 2014-2020 period. The commission’s proposal for a new GNSS Regulation foresees that the GSA will manage the budget necessary to operate EGNOS and Galileo and ensure service provision. This budget will be assigned under a delegation agreement signed with the commission, a mechanism foreseen under the European Union’s Financial Regulation. Under this arrangement, the commission would remain responsible for the overall political supervision of the GNSS Programmes. However, the GSA would ensure the exploitation of the GNSS systems with the appropriate level of autonomy and authority.
The Structure of the GSA. The GSA today is composed of a security department, a market development department, and an organizational entity charged with preparing the GSA’s future responsibilities in the management of the GNSS Programmes. In addition to a number of horizontal departments that ensure the agency’s functioning, the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre is an organizational component of the GSA.
Launch dates this fall for GNSS satellites are as follows, according to various sources:
Compass M2 and M5: September 18, 18:12 UTC (speculative); Compass G6: No earlier than October 1.
GSAT-10 (includes a GAGAN SBAS transponder): September 21.
GPS IIF-3: October 4, 2012. Launch window: 12:10-12:29 UTC.
Galileo IOV FM3 and FM4: October 10, 18:31 UTC.
Luch-5B: Originally scheduled for October 15, launch has slipped to no earlier than November 1 due to an issue with the “Briz-M” upper stage, which caused the loss of the Telkom-3 and Ekspress-MD2 communication satellites during their launch on August 6.
