At its meeting Nov. 2-11 in London, the IMO Maritime Safety Committee adopted a resolution to approve the BeiDou Message Service System (BDMSS) for use in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).
The GMDSS is an internationally recognized distress and radio communication safety system for certain-sized ships under the IMO Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS). The automated ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship system uses navigation satellites and terrestrial radio systems with digital selective calling technology.
The meeting summary states:
Following the assessment and evaluation of an application by China Transport Telecommunication Information Group Co. Ltd. (CTTIC) to recognize the BeiDou Message Service System (BDMSS) for use in the GMDSS, the MSC adopted an MSC resolution on Statement of recognition of the maritime mobile satellite services provided by CTTIC through BDMSS.
BDMSS was evaluated taking into account the existing requirements of the criteria for the provision of mobile satellite communication systems in the GMDSS (resolution A.1001(25)).
The recognition is currently limited to a coverage area within 75°E to 135°E longitude and 10°N to 55°N latitude.
BeiDou is the third system approved for GMDSS, following Inmarsat and Iridium, both of which use GPS and Galileo to provide tracking services.
ESTEC Test Centre, Europe’s largest satellite testing facility, said goodbye on Nov. 14 to the final satellite in the Galileo First Generation series, as it departed to OHB in Germany. There, it will rest in storage until ready to be sent for launch.
In a new European Space Agency (ESA) video, the people responsible for readying the satellites for space have gathered to reflect on the end of an era.
The work on Galileo began two decades ago with two test Galileo In-Orbit Validation (GIOVE) satellites, followed by a series of operational launches. The two GIOVE satellites and all 34 Galileo Full Operational Capability satellites were tested at ESTEC.
Next will come the Galileo Second Generation satellites, already in development.
Europe’s 2nd Horizon Europe call has been launched for European GNSS, Galileo and Earth observation projects, offering total funding of €48.1 million.
The Horizon program is managed by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). It funds research and innovation by small and mid-size enterprises, academia, public actors and others that will stimulate development of space applications and solutions using EUSPA data and services.
The 2nd call aims to to strengthen downstream capabilities and modernize the EU public sector by offering cutting-edge solutions based on Galileo, Copernicus, EGNOS and GOVSATCOM.
Funding is being offered for projects that make use of Galileo and EGNOS in smart mobility applications. Other projects fuse Copernicus data with artificial intelligence to boost the European economy and help modernize the public sector. For the first time, the call seeks to deliver satellite communication use cases based on the forthcoming GOVSATCOM system.
Below is a breakdown of the funds’ distribution per thematic area.
Visit the EU’s funding & tender opportunities portal for detailed information about the EUSPA call and the topics available. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2023.
RNT Foundation President Dana A. Goward was in London last week for a PNT Leadership Seminar. Here is his report.
In March 2021 the United Kingdom’s government told parliament that a national positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) strategy was to be published imminently.
Yet, in addition to the normal duties of running the world’s sixth largest economy, the last 20 months have been busy for the UK government: evolving issues with Brexit, more COVID, three prime ministers, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, financial crises… Small wonder that publishing a strategy to address a “not-right-now” concern hasn’t come to the top of the pile.
Royal Institute of Navigation Leadership Seminar
Yet PNT resilience is an incredibly important issue requiring long-term solutions. As a “learned society,” the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) has a duty to bring together professional expertise and educate the public on such important topics.
On Nov. 1, the RIN convened a UK PNT Leadership Seminar with “the UK’s leaders in government, industry, academia and key user communities.” Its goals were to not only highlight the economic benefits of resilient PNT leadership for the UK, but also to “develop a view of approaches, priorities and next steps.”
Attendees expressed a wide variety of concerns. These ranged from difficulties growing and retaining talent in the field, to a lack of understanding among the public and government about the essentiality of PNT to virtually every aspect of modern life.
There was general agreement that establishing a coherent and resilient PNT program in Britain would have dual benefits.
First, it would help protect the nation’s economy and national security. Malicious and natural threats to space-based PNT mean that complementary systems are needed to mitigate outages. A government sponsored study in 2017 estimated losses exceeding £5B during a five-day outage. The study’s authors conceded at the event that longer outages would realize much larger per day losses as infrastructure and systems increasingly suffered.
Action to mitigate disruption of space-based PNT was especially important for the UK, according to the concept paper, because “the sectors where the UK has the most value at risk from a loss of GNSS-provided PNT are precisely the sectors that lack adequate resilient backup options.”
Image: London Economics report
Economic Benefits of Resilience
Secondly, British PNT resilience would also have great positive benefit to the economy, especially if the UK established itself as a leader in the field. A concept paper prepared for the seminar by London Economics found that the value chain for the UK would include research and development, provision of PNT infrastructure, PNT module manufacturing, system integration,and application development.
Among the UK stakeholders most likely to benefit, according to the paper, were companies and institutions that were part of the value chain, along with user communities, government and the public overall.
Attendees and the London Economics concept paper agreed that consistent and focused government leadership was essential. Government must create the conditions and confidence to stimulate the whole ecosystem to deliver resilience and the associated economic benefits. In fact, the paper envisioned the government as an “anchor customer” for resilient PNT providers and device manufacturers. This idea echoed that expressed by representatives of PNT providers in the United States earlier this year. The need for government to protect itself with resilient PNT (thus becoming an anchor customer) was a primary theme during a PNT roundtable held by the U.S. Department of Transportation in August.
Getting Government’s Attention
Finding a way to communicate the importance of PNT and UK government leadership in a way that would generate action was another theme from seminar attendees. One panel member despaired the problem was “Little Susie hasn’t died yet.” It is hard to get government’s attention without a disaster of some sort. Another attendee suggested creating a video to increase public awareness thereby causing government to take notice and act.
Finding a high-profile champion was also discussed. An attendee told a story about a member of the royal family’s interest in quantum technologies, how that led to meetings with government, and establishment of the UK’s £1B quantum tech program. While several indicated this isn’t really a path RIN could use, a combination of personal connections or celebrity with the ability to “tell the story” can be very helpful.
Parliament also Concerned
Just three days after the RIN event, the UK government’s leadership of resilient PNT efforts was also formally criticized by Parliament.
It described PNT services as “key enablers of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sectors that underpin our national security and defence interests as well as a wide range of other economic activities…”
After reviewing testimony received by the committee the report made several important findings.
Regarding GPS and Galileo:
“The reliance on foreign systems is concerning due to the potential for the UK to be blocked from using them in the future. Reliance on space-based systems is also not advisable as these can be disrupted through jamming attacks or adverse space weather. The loss of PNT services would be detrimental to the UK, with power distribution, financial transactions, and transport systems all seriously affected, and the UK’s national security put at severe risk.”
Commenting on the UK government’s efforts with OneWeb:
“We are concerned that the Government seems to be progressing towards plans to use OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to provide PNT services in the future, despite suggestions from experts that there are many technical issues…”
And the Science and Technology Committee is not alone in Parliament being concerned with the nation’s lack of progress on PNT. In its October 2022 report “Defence Space: through adversity to the stars” the House of Commons Defence Committee said:
“Given the vital need for a resilient PNT network both for defence and for other aspects of critical national infrastructure we are deeply concerned by the complacent attitude towards PNT within government, and by the seemingly low priority which the MOD [Ministry of Defense] attaches to this work. Government must publish the conclusions of the SBPP and should set out a clear timetable for producing and taking forward the UK’s PNT strategy in its response to this report.”
‘Move PNT in Government above the Department Level’
Expressing the utmost frustration, last week’s report from the Science and Technology Committee recommended reassigning responsibility for PNT to a higher level of government than where it is positioned now.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the ministry currently responsible for publishing and implementing the long-delayed PNT Strategy.
The committee said that this long delay is evidence the ministry is “…refusing to commit to the critical action that needs to be taken.”
It also said:
“…we believe the responsibility for PNT should lie outside of any one department. The Government should establish the National Security Adviser (NSA) as having overall responsibility for the UK’s access to secure PNT capabilities. The NSA should ensure that the importance of developing secure PNT systems is understood throughout Government and take responsibility for developing a programme and budget for the work that needs to be carried out.”
UK Cross-Government PNT Office
For now, there is no evidence the UK government will adopt Parliament’s recommendation to move responsibility for PNT to the National Security Adviser.
However, BEIS has created a cross-government PNT effort to address the nation’s needs. Attendees at the RIN seminar reported that the team is staffed with representatives from several departments, including the MOD.
Seminar attendees said that PNT is getting to be MOD’s highest space-based priority. While not in a position to lead, Defence was strongly supporting cross-government efforts.
A team of researchers from the University of Texas Austin (UTA) have shown the Starlink broadband constellation’s potential to serve as a backup for GPS.
Todd E. Humphreys
The researchers, led by Todd Humphreys and funded by the U.S. Army, examined the downlink signal structure of the SpaceX Starlink constellation of ultrafast broadband satellites in low-Earth-orbit (LEO), reported MIT Technology Review. The team showed that Starlink could serve as a useful backup to GPS.
For the past two years, Humphreys’ team at UT Austin’s Radionavigation Lab has been reverse-engineering signals sent from thousands of Starlink internet satellites to ground-based receivers. Humphreys told the review that regular beacon signals from the constellation, designed to help receivers connect with the satellites, could form the basis of a useful navigation system.
Title: Signal Structure of the Starlink Ku-Band Downlink
Authors: Todd E. Humphreys, Peter A. Iannucci, Zacharias Komodromos, Andrew M. Graff
Abstract: We develop a technique for blind signal identification of the Starlink downlink signal in the 10.7 to 12.7 GHz band and present a detailed picture of
the signal’s structure. Importantly, the signal characterization offered herein includes the exact values of synchronization sequences embedded in the
signal that can be exploited to produce pseudorange measurements. Such an understanding of the signal is essential to emerging efforts that seek to dual-purpose Starlink signals for positioning, navigation, and timing, despite their being designed solely for broadband internet provision.
New PNT satellites will operate in low Earth orbit (LEO). (Image: ESA)
News from the European Space Agency (ESA)
Satellite navigation is headed closer to users. ESA’s Navigation Directorate is planning an in-orbit demonstration with new navigation satellites that will orbit just a few hundred kilometers in space, supplementing Europe’s 23,222-km-distant Galileo satellites.
Operating added-value signals, these novel low-Earth-orbit (LEO) positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) satellites will investigate a new multi-layer satnav system-of-systems approach to deliver seamless PNT services that are much more accurate, robust and available everywhere.
Global in coverage, free for everyone to use, GNSS such as Europe’s Galileo have already transformed our society, and due to their sheer omnipresence their influence continues to grow. In 2021, the population of satnav receivers reached 6.5 billion around the world, and the sector is projected to maintain a 10% annual growth rate in the years ahead. But in various respects the standard GNSS approach is nearing the limits of optimum performance — to get even better, added ingredients are becoming essential.
“Satellite navigation has enabled a vast range of applications in recent years, but this very success is inspiring still more demanding user needs for the coming decade,” said Lionel Ries, head of ESA’s GNSS Evolutions R&D team, overseeing the agency’s LEO-PNT studies.
“For use cases such as autonomous vehicles, ships or drones, robotics, smart cities or the industrial internet of things for control of factory systems, the positioning requirements are growing from the current meter-scale to centimeter scale or even more precise, based on continuously reliable signals that are available anywhere, anytime — even indoors —while able to overcome interference or jamming.
“Up until now we have relied for positioning on the classical solution of GNSS such as Galileo, located in medium Earth orbit and based on L-band signals. Standard GNSS alone is not going to be able to fulfil all these future user demands. Instead Europe needs to seize the opportunity to investigate the potential of the kind of LEO constellations that are already on the way in the global market to enable new kinds of PNT services.”
Simply by virtue of physics, with less of a distance to cover down to Earth, the signals from these LEO-PNT satellites can be more powerful, able to overcome interference and reach places where today’s satnav signals cannot reach.
Additionally, by adopting novel navigation techniques and a wider range of signal bands the satellites can address particular user needs: for instance at lower orbits the satellites themselves move more rapidly relative to Earth’s surface — think of the International Space Station at 400 km that orbits the Earth every 90 minutes — which offers possible advantage in the time needed to reach very accurate positions. Also some bands could offer greater penetration in difficult environments while other bands could offer higher robustness and precision.
Mega-constellations of hundreds or even thousands of low-orbiting satellites offer a means of acquiring continuous coverage for telecommunications services or Earth observation. (Image: ESA)
The purpose of ESA’s plan to perform an in-orbit demonstration of low Earth orbiting satnav satellites is precisely to consolidate the types of signals, enabling technologies and their potential for future services.
The plan is to build and fly an initial mini-constellation of at least half a dozen satellites to test capabilities and key technologies, as well as demonstrating signals and frequency bands for use by a follow-on operational constellation, in the same way that Europe’s GIOVE test satellites paved the way for Galileo. Success will place European industry in pole positions for follow-on commercial undertakings, as well as planned institutional programs.
“Each individual satellite would be comparatively small, below 70 kg in mass, compared to a 700 kg current Galileo operational satellite,” added Roberto Prieto-Cerdeira, Galileo Second Generation satellite payload manager and LEO-PNT project preparation manager as part of ESA’s FutureNAV program.
“They can be comparatively more streamlined because they can benefit from other means to calculate the accurate time without extremely precise atomic clocks on board — including relayed signals from the Galileo satellites above them. These satellites would also be built on a rapid batch production basis to save time and cost — we are targeting three years at the most from signing the contracts to the first satellites in orbit, the same kind of timescale achieved by GIOVE-A in the early 2000s.”
A vision of the future shows layered satellite navigation stretching from Earth to the Moon. (Image: ESA)
“It is ESA’s ambition to ensure Europe maintains a world-class space industry, and navigation today forms the single largest downstream space sector, worth about €150 billion annually and growing at the rate of 10% per year,” said ESA Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto-Ruiz. “Standing still is not an option; instead we need to explore new technical avenues to spur European competitiveness and commercialization.”
An operational version of the LEO-PNT constellation would represent a whole new layer for PNT delivery, combined with traditional GNSS as well as 5G/6G-based positioning on the ground, and fused with data from sensors in the user terminals.
Interest from industry
ESA has been researching core elements of the LEO-PNT concept since 2016. Now, with numerous low Earth orbit constellations already taking shape around the globe, the time is right to move from basic research to in-orbit demonstration.
Interest from European industry in the LEO-PNT project has been very high, shown by a recent Request for Information where ESA presented details of how companies and institutions might participate and a large number of companies registered and presented possible concepts and contributions.
Forward to FutureNAV
LEO-PNT is supported through the ESA Directorate of Navigation’s FutureNAV programme, which also includes the GENESIS satellite to measure the shape of Earth more accurately than ever before while also boosting the positioning performance of satnav satellites. The FutureNAV programme, which includes both GENESIS and the LEO-PNT initiative, is up for decision at ESA’s next Ministerial Conference, taking place in Paris on Nov. 22-23. Read the fact sheet here.
Until now, all navigation satellites have flown in medium-Earth orbit – up at 23,222 km in the case of Galileo, which delivers meter-level accuracy. At such altitudes the satellites move slowly across the sky, helping ensure global availability of satellite navigation signals, albeit at relatively low power.
ESA’s LEO PNT constellation would move to a “multilayer system of systems” approach, with medium-Earth orbit signals supplemented by those from LEO satellites at altitudes of less than 2,000 km — along with additional inputs from terrestrial PNT systems and user-based sensors, made up of approximately a dozen satellites, helping European companies move forward at a time when worldwide commercial interest is high in LEO constellations of all kinds, especially for telecommunications and PNT.
The satellites themselves can be stripped down compared to current navigation satellites, because they would essentially be relaying satnav signals from MEO. This is a key point because there will need to be many more satellites to ensure global coverage — because the lower the orbit the faster each individual satellite will pass across the sky. This fact also opens the way to a more agile “New Space” approach to satellite construction for European firms, with smaller payloads and simplified operations from the ground.
Their signals will be much stronger (potentially able to penetrate indoors), and transmitted on novel frequencies, which – along with the new geometries made possible by LEO satellites – should enhance overall service resilience. LEO PNT will also deliver faster position fixes and enable rapid two-way authentication checks. And overall signal availability will be boosted enormously, especially in high-latitude and polar regions.
To paraphrase Galileo Galilei — the great Italian astronomer, philosopher, engineer, mathematician and physicist — positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) does not revolve around GPS. The European GNSS named after the father of modern science (as Albert Einstein called him) is making great strides and currently provides more accurate positioning than the United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, or China’s BeiDou-3. In fact, there are more Galileo satellites providing an L5 signal than GPS satellites.
I heard much well-earned pride about Galileo’s achievements expressed by European presenters at the Institute of Navigation’s GNSS+ conference in Denver in September; during a visit to the European Commission’s Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy, on Oct. 7; and at the INTERGEO conference and trade show in Essen, Germany, on Oct. 18-20. (On the way, I stayed several days in Pisa, Italy — where I spent my teen years when my father taught physics at the city’s university — at a friend’s home about 100 feet away from the house where Galileo was born in 1564.)
While two more launches are required to complete the Galileo constellation so that it will have at least one spare satellite per plane, its service availability is already at 98-99% and a new ground segment has been deployed. A second generation of satellites is on its way, with expected initial operational capability in 2028 and full operational capability starting after 2031. Its features will include new signals, improved effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), inter-satellite links, and a 15-year lifespan.
The Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), a free data authentication function for users of Galileo’s Open Service, has been stably transmitted worldwide for a year. It will enable users to verify the authenticity of GNSS data, thereby greatly helping to detect instances of spoofing. A declaration of initial service is foreseen for 2023, and the first OSNMA-capable receivers are already on the market.
Galileo’s High Accuracy Service (HAS) signal has been available worldwide with orbit and clock corrections and biases for Galileo and GPS since July 22. While it is still in its validation phase, it is already performing very well and an initial service declaration is expected by the end of the year, including an Internet-based correction distribution service.
Galileo is also developing an emergency warning service that will use the L1 band to broadcast alerts and guidance to populations at risk of natural disasters. It is expected to enter service in 2024 and reach any Galileo-enabled device, of which there are already about three billion. Other services will include advanced timing, space service volume (to aid in the positioning and navigation of spacecraft in high-Earth orbits), advanced receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (ARAIM), and predictions of ionospheric perturbations.
Like so much else, completion of the Galileo constellation was affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine, because two launches planned for this year from French Guyana aboard Russian Soyuz rockets were scrapped.
Finally, one of my favorite quotes from Galileo: “Measure what can be measured and make measurable what cannot yet be measured.”
SouthPAN provides accurate, reliable and instant positioning services across all of Australia and New Zealand’s land and maritime zones without the need for mobile phone or internet coverage. It will improve positioning from 5-10 meters, to as little as 10 centimeters — a 50-fold increase in accuracy.
The SouthPAN satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) test-bed project took place between 2017 and 2019, demonstrating the value of SouthPAN to Australian and New Zealand economies and communities. Economic analysis indicates that it is more than $6.2 billion for Australia alone.
In February 2020, Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) began a joint collaboration on SouthPAN under the Australia New Zealand Science, Research and Innovation Cooperation Agreement (ANZSRICA). A comprehensive procurement process followed, awarding an AUD$1.18 billion, 19-year contract on Sept. 16 to Lockheed Martin Australia.
“The SouthPAN project team will work with Lockheed Martin Australia to establish a network of Global Navigation Satellite System reference stations, a corrections processing facility and satellite uplink facilities that will enable accurate and reliable positioning signals to be transmitted from satellites to users,” said Madeleine King, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. “The SouthPAN services will be fully operational across the two countries with safety-of-life certification from 2028.”
Benefits from SouthPAN
With early Open Services, Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand enable industry access to SouthPAN. Early Open Services can immediately integrate with existing equipment or products, to create or enhance positioning service offerings to end-users.
Early Open Services will bring widespread benefits across agriculture, construction, resources and many other industries, paving the way for technological advancements in automation, including:
heavy vehicle automation, such as truck platooning, where vehicles can connect to each other as a group to transport goods
precision agriculture applications such as yield mapping, controlled traffic farming, inter-row seeding, precision spraying and livestock management
personnel safety on mine and construction sites, through smart geofencing technologies that accurately identify the locations of workers with key equipment, such as vehicles and heavy machinery.
SouthPAN is estimated to generate more than AUD$6 billion in benefits to the Australian economy over the next 30 years.
King said the new network will allow
mining companies to install more accurate collision avoidance systems on automated mining haul trucks
visually impaired citizens to navigate cities with pinpoint assistive technologies
light aircraft to land more safely in remote rural areas in all weather conditions, including essential services such as The Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The joint Australia-New Zealand initiative will be a game-changer for the economies of both nations, said Damien O’Connor, New Zealand minister for land information.
“This technology was originally developed to support aviation safety, but as technology has advanced, the applications have expanded,” O’Connor said. “It now has potential uses as varied as enabling accurate vehicle guidance for efficiencies in agriculture and horticulture management, tracking maritime shipments, and enabling navigation for drones and other unmanned vehicles.”
Early Open Services
SouthPAN will provide three early Open Services.
L1 SBAS Open Service. The L1 SBAS early Open Service will provide navigation messages on the L1 frequency (1,575.42 MHz), and allow users with a receiver that tracks GPS L1 C/A signals to improve their position accuracy to better than ≤3m in the horizontal and ≤4 m in the vertical (95% confidence interval).
DFMC SBAS Open Service. The Dual-Frequency Multi-Constellation SBAS early Open Service will provide navigation messages on the L5 frequency (1,176.45 MHz), and allow users — with a receiver that tracks GPS L1 C/A and L5 signals, and Galileo E1 and E5a signals — to improve their position accuracy to better than ≤1.5m in the horizontal and ≤2.5 m in the vertical (95% confidence interval).
PVS Open Service. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) via SouthPAN (PVS) early Open Service will share the L5 frequency with the DFMC SBAS Open Service in the near future, before transitioning to a new navigation signal. PVS will allow users — with a receiver that tracks GPS L1 C/A and L5 signals and Galileo E1 and E5a signals, and is capable of processing the PVS messages — to improve their position accuracy better than ≤0.40 m in the horizontal and ≤0.55 m in the vertical (95% confidence interval) after convergence. Convergence will be better than 80 minutes during PVS early Open Services, and the user does not need to remain stationary during the convergence period.
SouthPAN early Open Services coverage. OS-L1 covers mainland Australia and New Zealand. OS-DFMC and OS-PVS cover Exclusive Economic Zones in both countries. (Image: Geosciences Australia)
SouthPAN uses several distributed ground stations to monitor signals broadcast by GNSS satellites, and compares each station’s known location with position data from the satellites.
The GNSS signal data and measurement information is sent to correction processing facilities. The facilities aggregate the data from all ground stations, produce error corrections and status information about the GNSS satellites, and format the data in a standardized series of messages. These messages are sent to an uplink station, which transmits the data to a satellite in geostationary earth orbit. The data is broadcast to all precise positioning users, who combine SouthPAN’s data with their own observations of GNSS satellites.
On Oct. 7, China launched a pair of satellites designed to enhance BeiDou navigation signals.
The CentiSpace-1 S5 and S6 satellites were launched via a Long March 11 solid rocket that lifted off at 9:10 a.m. EDT from a mobile sea platform in the Yellow Sea. Launch success was confirmed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) 90 minutes later.
The CentiSpace-1 satellites are designed to enhance the accuracy of signals from China’s Beidou navigation and positioning satellite system. The satellites will also conduct inter-satellite laser link experiments.
A Fregat booster successfully delivered a Glonass-K navigational satellite into its designated orbit, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 10. Glonass-K No. 17L is the fifth K satellite to join the constellation.
“A Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket that blasted off at 05:52 a.m. Moscow time on October 10 from the Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk Region successfully delivered a Russian Glonass-K navigational satellite into the target orbit at the designated time,” the ministry said in a statement.
Liftoff and the delivery into the designated orbit proceeded in normal mode, the ministry said, and the ground-based facilities of Russia’s Aerospace Forces assumed control.
“The Russian Glonass-K navigational space vehicle launched on Monday, October 10, from the Plesetsk spaceport by a combat team of the Space Troops of the Aerospace Forces was delivered into the target orbit at the designated time and placed under the control of the ground-based facilities of the Titov Main Testing Space Center of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops,” the statement said.
Stable telemetry communications have been established and are being maintained with the satellite. The space vehicle’s onboard systems are operating in normal mode, the ministry said.
The Glonass-K is a third-generation satellite of the Russian global navigation satellite system (Glonass). The satellite was engineered and manufactured by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company (part of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos). The satellite was developed to replace the Glonass-M family of space vehicles.
The world watched in awe and a bit of terror as the 23-inch polished metal sphere arced across the sky. Its elliptical, 65-degree declination low-Earth orbit covered virtually the entire planet. Its beep, beep, beeping could be easily heard by professional and armature radio operators alike.
The Soviet Union had just put the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in space. It was Friday, the 4th of October, 1957.
The Soviets had gained the high ground, quite literally. The Space Race had begun. As had the West’s greatly increased focus on education in science and engineering. School children in the United States would never lack for homework again.
On Monday, the 7th of October, scientists William Guier and George Weiffenbach arrived to work at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. To their surprise, they found no one had been listening in on Sputnik’s signal over the weekend. So, they decided to do just that. Just for good measure, they also recorded it.
Thus began a series of events that led directly to every satellite navigation system that has come since.
Guier and Weiffenbach’s story was documented in the Johns Hopkins Technical Digest in 1997. It is a fascinating tale of discovery. I highly recommend it.
And it may be a good reason for October 7 to become “World SatNav Day.”
The Ariane 6 launch vehicle program has taken a dramatic step towards first flight with the start on Oct. 5 of hot-fire tests of the rocket’s upper stage and its all-new Vinci engine, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
The tests are a significant step forward. They are being conducted using the specially built P5.2 test bench for engine and stage testing at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Lampoldshausen. The P5.2 test bench subjects the entire upper stage to operating conditions representative of a flight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with the exception of vacuum and microgravity.
New Vinci Engine
Vinci, the upper stage engine of Ariane 6 fed by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, can be stopped and restarted multiple times — a critical capability for the complex missions demanded by launch customers today.
The rocket can place several satellites into different orbits and de-orbit the upper stage, leaving a minimum of hazardous debris in space. Vinci also has been developed for reliability, simplicity and lower costs.
Replacement Heavy Launcher
This test series is a critical milestone on a development path that will soon see Ariane 6 replace Ariane 5 as ESA’s heavy launcher.
For more than a quarter century, Ariane 5 has been a reliable partner for commercial, institutional and scientific clients. One of its most notable missions was the Dec. 25, 2021, flight that carried the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to its operational outpost in deep space.
But Ariane 6 will be an even more versatile vehicle, strengthening Europe’s autonomy in accessing space.
Auxiliary Power Unit
The tests being run at Lampoldshausen are also evaluating an innovative auxiliary power unit (APU) that works in tandem with the Vinci engine and is instrumental to Ariane 6 upper-stage performance.
To restart in space, earlier engines relied on large quantities of tanked helium to generate the necessary pressure and temperature in the propellant tanks and to ensure there are no bubbles in the fuel lines. However, the APU delivers these conditions using only small amounts of the cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen already carried in the main tanks.
Heading to ESTEC
The test series is being run by DLR and ArianeGroup, the Ariane 6 launcher prime contractor. When the test series is complete, the upper stage — integrated by ArianeGroup at its facility in Bremen, Germany — will be shipped to ESA’s ESTEC technical center in the Netherlands for stage separation and acoustic tests.
Ultimately, the Lampoldshausen tests will investigate hardware behavior and system function of the complete stage with its tanks, engines and avionics.
“The preparation for these hot firing tests is even more complex than for an actual launch,” said Ariane 6 launcher program manager Guy Pilchen. “Our colleagues in Lampoldshausen have decades of experience in rocket propulsion with extremely advanced test facilities. With ArianeGroup colleagues to control the upper stage and DLR people operating the test bench, we couldn’t ask for a better team.”
Space independence for Europe
ESA Director of Space Transportation Daniel Neuenschwander said that this new engine and the upper stage it powers are indispensable components of Ariane 6 and its objective — to guarantee that Europe maintains independent, competitive and sustainable access to space.
“It’s a fact in the 21st century that Europeans depend on space for safety, prosperity and security,” Neuenschwander said. “Europe needs to work toward complete autonomy in accessing and operating in space. Ariane 6 is key to this, and we are eager to see the liftoff from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.”
Ariane 6 Vinci engine testing at DLR Lampoldshausen. (Photo: ESA)
