Two more full operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites are scheduled for launch March 27. This video shows the four first-stage boosters of the Soyuz launcher being assembled in Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Assembly takes place on a horizontal basis, in the Russian manner. The video shows four thrusters assembled around the main body. After takeoff, the engines burn for 120 seconds and then are dropped. The thrust is transferred to the main body by a ball joint located above the propeller of the cone-shaped structure.
Tag: Full Operational Capability
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Galileo Satellites Ready for Fueling as Launcher Takes Shape
Galileo satellite being prepared for fit check. This testing, to ensure the seventh and eight Galileo satellites fit onto their dual-launch dispenser took place in mid-February 2015. The dispenser sits atop the Fregat upper stage of their Soyuz ST-B launcher. Photo: European Space Agency By the European Space Agency
All the elements for this month’s Galileo launch are coming together at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. As the two satellites undergo final testing and preparations, the first part of their Soyuz launcher has also been integrated.
Assembly of the Soyuz ST-B’s first two stages, plus its four first stage boosters, took place at the Spaceport’s Soyuz Launcher Integration Building last week. Assembly takes place on a horizontal basis, in the Russian manner.
The next step will be the addition of the third stage, then the main part of the launcher will be complete, ready to be transported to the Soyuz launch pad and moved to the vertical position.
The final fourth stage of the Soyuz is the reignitable Fregat, which will transport the two satellites to their final 23,222-km altitude medium Earth orbit. This will be attached to the Soyuz on the launch pad, once the satellites, their dispenser and launch fairing have been mounted on it.
Since the seventh and eighth Galileo satellites arrived in French Guiana last month, they have undergone several tests – including one System Compatibility Test Campaign each, where they are linked up to the rest of the global Galileo ground segment as if they are already ‘live’ in orbit.
Assembly of seventh and eighth Galileo satellites’ Soyuz ST-B’s first two stages, plus its four first stage boosters, took place at the Spaceport’s Soyuz Launcher Integration Building in the first week of March 2015. Assembly takes place on a horizontal basis, in the Russian manner. Photo: European Space Agency The all-important ‘fit check’ was passed in the middle of February. The two satellites were installed separately onto their dual-launch dispenser, to check they fitted correctly.
This dispenser has the task of holding them in place atop the Fregat during the launch and flight to their final orbit, then releasing them. They will be installed together later this month, after the satellites have been fueled.
Last week saw the finalization of their hardware and software, and the charging of their batteries — on which the satellites will be reliant from the short but crucial period from their launch to the unfurling of their solar arrays in orbit.
The pair of satellites is now ready to be transferred to the Spaceport’s S5A fueling facility, where they will receive the fuel to keep them controllable during their 12-year working lives.
After their fueling and final check, the pair of satellites will be in launch configuration. After a final review they will then become available for Arianespace teams to carry out the final preparation, known as Combined Operations, leading to the launch day.
The launch of the seventh and eighth Galileo satellites will take place on Friday, March 27.
Cutaway view of the Soyuz rocket fairing carrying a pair of Galileo satellites. Photo: European Space Agency -
Arianespace Soyuz Begins Integration for March 27 Galileo Launch
The Soyuz launcher for Arianespace’s upcoming mission with two European Galileo navigation satellites is taking shape at the Spaceport for a March 27 liftoff from French Guiana.
“During activity in the Spaceport’s Soyuz Launcher Integration Building, the medium-lift workhorse began to assume its iconic form with integration of the four first-stage strap-on boosters to the Block A core second stage,” Arianespace wrote in an statement.
“The next step will be the mating of Soyuz’ Block I third stage to the launcher’s core, completing the basic build-up, and readying the vehicle for its rollout to the launch pad — where the payload will be mated.”
The March 27 flight will be the 11th Soyuz flight from French Guiana since the launcher’s introduction at the Spaceport in October 2011. It is designated Flight VS11 in Arianespace’s numbering system for its launcher family, which also includes the heavy-lift Soyuz and lightweight Vega.
For the upcoming Soyuz mission, Arianespace will loft Galileo’s third and fourth Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites to further expand the constellation. Flight VS11’s two satellites were built by OHB System, with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. supplying their navigation payloads.
Galileo’s complete operational network and its ground infrastructure will be deployed during the program’s Full Operational Capability phase, which is managed and funded by the European Commission. The European Space Agency has been delegated as the design and procurement agent on the Commission’s behalf.
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Four Galileo Satellites Now at ESTEC, Production Continues
News courtesy of the European Space Agency.
The latest Galileo satellite, formally known as FOC FM06, arrived at the ESTEC Test Centre in its protective container on Dec. 18, after traveling from OHB in Bremen, Germany. Photo: European Space Agency The latest Galileo satellite has arrived at ESTEC, in the Netherlands, and is undergoing a full checkout to prove its readiness for space.
The satellite was carried by lorry from its manufacturer in Germany, cocooned within an environmentally controlled container. It arrived inside ESTEC’s cleanroom environment on Dec. 18. The container was then opened up to begin preparations for testing.
The first six Galileo satellites are already in orbit, launched in pairs in 2011, 2012 and August this year.
The last pair was delivered into the wrong orbit by a faulty upper stage, but the fifth satellite’s orbit has since been changed to allow checking of its navigation payload, which began at the end of November.
The sides and top of the Galileo satellite container were sprayed clean before it was taken inside the bay of the ESTEC Test Centre to keep any contamination from entering the pristine cleanroom. Photo: European Space Agency Meanwhile, down on the ground, production of further satellites continues steadily, taking the Galileo series into double figures overall.
Following on from the first four In-Orbit Validation satellites, 22 of these Full Operational Capability satellites are being built by OHB in Bremen, Germany, with navigation payloads from SSTL in Guildford, UK.
Numbered Flight Model 6, or FM06 for short, this latest of the newer satellites is now reunited under the test centre’s roof with three others. FM03 and FM04 have completed their acceptance testing, culminating in the weeks-long thermal-vacuum test. Each satellite was subjected to the same vacuum and extreme temperature conditions experienced in orbit, as well as radio-frequency testing of their navigation payloads and antennas inside an anechoic chamber isolated from the external universe. This pair is now in storage in the centre pending the results of their concluding acceptance review.
The other satellite, FM05, recently ended its own thermal-vacuum trial. It is now being reconfigured for radio-frequency testing, planned to take place after the Christmas break. The latest unboxed Galileo satellite will undergo its own thermal–vacuum test in January.
ESTEC is an essential stop on the way to space for Galileo. It is equipped with all the facilities needed to simulate space conditions under a single roof, including an acoustic chamber, earthquake-strength shaker tables, and anechoic and vacuum chambers, along with a range of specialised measuring equipment.
Once ESTEC gives the satellites its stamp of quality then they are in principle ready to be flown to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. ESA and the European Commission are currently deciding on the launch schedule for these next Galileos.
The container containing the latest Galileo satellite, FOC FM06, was carefully hoisted off the lorry that carried it from OHB in Bremen, Germany. Its underside was then carefully cleaned before it was taken out of the bay into the cleanroom environment. Photo: European Space Agency -
The System: First Galileo FOC Satellite on the Air
Will Be Employable for Surveying, Precise Positioning, and Geodesy
By Peter Steigenberger and André Hauschild, German Aerospace Center (DLR) / German Space Operations Center
The first Full Operational Capability (FOC) Galileo satellite started transmitting L-band navigation signals on November 29, 2014. Based on data collected by a global network of GNSS tracking stations of the Cooperative Network for GNSS Observation (CONGO) and the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS), we determined that an E1 signal with pseudorandom noise code (PRN) E18 was first tracked at the station LLAG (La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands) at 06:08 UTC. A few moments later, the satellite’s transmissions were also tracked at other MGEX stations including the E5a, E5b, and E5 AltBOC signals. Based on the computed satellite visibility at various tracking stations, the satellite could be positively identified as GSAT0201, also known as Galileo FOC-FM1 or Galileo 5 with COSPAR ID 2014-050A and NORAD ID 40128.
FIGURE 1 shows the carrier-to-noise-density ratio (C/N0) of the E18 signals tracked at the CONGO/MGEX station SIN1 (Singapore, using a Trimble NetR9 receiver with a Leica AR25.3 antenna). We selected the signals from this station for analysis due to an E18 pass occurring close to the zenith and covering almost the full range of elevation angles. The E5a and E5b signals (S5X and S7X RINEX identifiers) show very similar performance, whereas the C/N0 values of the E1 signal are 1–2 dB-Hz higher. The C/N0 values of the E5 AltBOC signal (S8X) reach 60 dB-Hz at high elevation angles, which is about 6 dB-Hz higher than the other signals.
Figure 1. Galileo E18 carrier-to-noise-density ratio for the CONGO/MGEX station SIN1 (Singapore). The first pair of Galileo FOC spacecraft was launched on August 22 with a Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guyana. Due to a malfunction of the Fregat upper stage, the satellites were injected into elliptical orbits with an inclination of about 49° instead of near circular orbits with 55° inclination. In November, the perigee of the first FOC satellite was raised by about 3,500 kilometers by a series of 11 maneuvers with a corresponding reduction in orbit eccentricity from 0.23 to 0.16.
E18 has been included in the precise orbit and clock solutions of the MGEX analysis center at Technische Universität München (TUM) in Munich, Germany, since December 5. FIGURE 2 shows the detrended estimates of the active Galileo E18 clock for December 7. The presence of a pronounced quadratic term as well the large drift of 33.9 microseconds per day indicate that the active clock is a rubidium atomic frequency standard rather than a more precise passive hydrogen maser. The FOC satellites carry two of each kind of clock.
Figure 2. Galileo E18 clock estimates for December 7, 2014, with respect to the hydrogen maser at the Ottawa IGS station (NRC1) after removing an offset and drift (blue) or a second order polynomial (red). The TUM orbit and clock product allows researchers to again compute dual-frequency positioning solutions using only Galileo observations, as the In-Orbit Validation satellite E20 has not transmitted an E5 signal since May, when a power anomaly left the satellite with the capability to only transmit an E1 signal. Furthermore, E20 currently does not transmit a navigation message.
TABLE 1 shows the scatter of single-point positioning using pseudorange (code) observations from the MGEX station MAS1 (Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands) for a Galileo-only, a GPS-only, and a combined Galileo+GPS solution for December 6. At an elevation cut-off angle of 10°, four Galileo satellites were visible from 10:15 until 12:25 UTC (see FIGURE 3). The GPS-only solution covers the same time interval. The start time is not limited by the cut-off angle but an E18 transmission outage from 3:45–10:15 UTC.
TABLE 1. Single point positioning results for the MGEX station MAS1 (Maspalomas) for December 6, 2014. 
Figure 3. Galileo visibility at the MGEX station MAS1 (Maspalomas) on December 6, 2014. The time period considered in the single-point positioning is indicated by vertical lines. We used an ionosphere-free linear combination of Galileo E1 and E5 AltBOC code observations and GPS L1 and L2 code observations with a 30-second sampling interval. As the Galileo-only solution suffered from position dilution of precision (PDOP) values of up to 830, a total of 32 epochs with PDOP values greater than 25 were excluded. The geometry of the remaining epochs is still pretty unfavorable. At a mean PDOP value of 7.4, the standalone position solution exhibits a 3D standard deviation (STD) error of 3.4 meters. Use of the Galileo satellites in a combined GPS+ Galileo solution improves the positioning performance. In particular, the height component benefits from the inclusion of the four Galileo satellites with a standard deviation improvement of 25 percent.
Despite the orbit injection error, the new Galileo FOC satellite has now been successfully activated and added to the Galileo constellation. Unfortunately, the current orbit is incompatible with the standard Galileo almanac format, which may cause restrictions for some commercial receiver types.
Nevertheless, the satellite can already be tracked by a wide range of geodetic receivers with existing firmware versions and it will, in fact, be possible to use the new satellite for diverse applications in surveying, precise positioning, and geodesy, as well as in general multi-GNSS studies. We now look forward to the activation of the second FOC satellite, which can be expected in early 2015 and will, for the first time, offer multi-frequency signals from a total of five Galileo satellites.
Sanctions Delay GLONASS-K2
According to Nikolai Testoyedov, the CEO of Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev, manufacturer of the GLONASS satellites, the company will now produce nine GLONASS-K1 satellites.
“For a smooth transition to a multi-functional group and due to issues with the very complex GLONASS-K2 satellites, we decided to continue with the GLONASS-K1 intermediate range of satellites, and we are preparing for the launch of nine units of this series,” he said.
He recalled the original plan was to launch two K1 satellites and then move to GLONASS-K2 satellites.
“In the beginning, really, we wanted after the two GLONASS-K1 satellites No. 11 and 12, to go for the launch of more advanced GLONASS-K2 devices. But, unfortunately, the plans had to be adjusted somewhat because of the sanctions restricting the delivery of radiation-resistant electronic components from the West. We have to put a hold on the in-depth development of technical and technological documentation and that delays us in terms of moving ahead by at least a year or two,” he said.
Reported by the Russian magazine Vestnik GLONASS, and relayed by Richard Langley’s CANSPACE listserv.
GNSS Mandates Would Violate Trade Agreements
A U.S. government representative stated at an international satnav forum that mandating use of specific GNSS services for applications such as air-traffic control, freight shipments, emergency calling, and road tolling could violate the terms of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements that many nations, including all six GNSS providers, have signed.
Regional mandates already exist for GLONASS in Russia and BeiDou in China, and have been suggested and extensively discussed in Europe, as a way of stimulating the market adoption of Galileo receiver chipsets, thus recouping some of the massive public investment in the satnav system.
The presentation occurred during the Ninth Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), held Nov. 10–14, 2014, in Prague, Czech Republic.
Jason Kim, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce, stated that the United States and the European Union already enjoy a productive dialog on GNSS trade issues under the 2004 U.S.-EU Agreement on GPS-Galileo Cooperation. In that agreement, both parties agreed to consult before establishing GNSS standards, certification requirements, regulations, mandates; affirmed their non-discriminatory approach with respect to GNSS trade; and established a working group to consider non-discrimination and other trade related issues.
Finally, the United States and the European Union recognized and reiterated in 2004 their commitments to WTO rules including those governing technical barriers to trade, specifically, that there would be no goods discrimination based on non-tariff measures such as regulations, standards, testing, or certification.
Kim made the remarks in the course of his presentation titled “GNSS Market Access.” He told GPS World that his presentation was directed less at the European Union, which has been conscientious of its WTO commitments, and more towards the rest of the ICG members, including non-provider nations that may be asked by GNSS providers to mandate specific systems.
“To promote adoption of their systems,” Kim stated, “GNSS providers are considering/implementing equipage mandates for various applications: aviation, motor-carrier and HAZMAT vehicle tracking, car accident reporting (eCall/ERA-GLONASS), and emergency phone calls (E112).
“The United States recommends technology-neutral, performance-based standards,” Kim continued, giving as example the U.S. E911 rules that specify a required positioning accuracy and then allow wireless carriers to choose the best technical solutions according to their lights.
The U.S. government presentation at ICG revealed particular concern that regulations under consideration could adversely affect the sales of U.S. GPS-enabled hardware in many industry sectors. All members of the WTO, including the six GNSS providers on the ICG, are bound to a range of trade agreements designed to promote open-market access, all cited in the Prague ICG presentation: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The United States, Europe, Japan, and 12 others are also parties to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).
European Commission officials have publicly and recently stated that they are considering how to stimulate Galileo use, in particular through regulatory measures requiring that navigation equipment be installed on aircraft, automobiles, and other platforms.
“Requiring specific systems arbitrarily prevents or penalizes imports of goods having perfectly functional GNSS capability,” said Kim. “WTO members must comply with TBT obligations in setting technical regulations.”
He concluded his presentation by requesting that the ICG Providers’ Forum add GNSS market access to its future agenda for discussion, and consider developing a new principle on market access for future adoption.
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Salvaged Galileo Performs Its First Navigation Fix
Scatter plot of the Galileo fix performed in ESA’s Navigation Laboratory at its ESTEC technical centre on 9 December 2014. The plot was calculated by the Lab’s Septentrio Test User Receiver, with dispersion of less than 2 m. News from the European Space Agency
Galileo’s fifth satellite — recently salvaged from the wrong orbit to begin navigation testing — has been combined with three predecessors to provide its first position fix.
Test receivers at ESA’s technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, and at the Galileo In-Orbit Test station at Redu in Belgium received the signals at 12:48 GMT on December 9 from the quartet of satellites and fixed their horizontal positions to better than 2 meters.
This achievement is particularly significant because the fifth satellite is the first of a new design of 22 Galileo satellites set to be launched over the next few years.
Further position fixes were then made by France’s CNES space agency in Toulouse, France, as noted by Bernard Bonhoure: “The results are as good as those for the first Galileo fixes in 2013 with the initial four satellites.”
The following day, fixes were performed using Galileo’s Public Regulated Service, the encrypted highest-precision class of signal.
“The very good geometry of the satellites in the sky relative to the receivers helped us to achieve this result, plus the signal strength of the fifth satellite,” explained Gustavo Lopez Risueno, coordinating the receiver team at the Navigation Laboratory in ESA’s ESTEC technical centre.
“This is a significant milestone for the Galileo program because it marks the very first time that a Full Operational Capability satellite has performed a fix together with its In-Orbit Validation predecessors — which were the first four satellites launched into orbit, in 2011 and 2012. This establishes they work together well.
“While it is not yet possible to make routine use of the fifth Galileo, this shows such an outcome is within our reach.
Galileo satellite geometry and received signal strength for the December 9 fix using the first Galileo FOC satellite. The first Galileo FOC satellite corresponds to E19 on the left display; IOV PFM to E11, FM2 to E12 and FM3 to E19. “In particular, it opens the door to its immediate use in combination with additional navigation message information provided through ground networks, which is a standard mode of operation for mass market receivers, such as those found in our smartphones.”
The fifth and sixth satellites were delivered into the wrong orbit by their Soyuz–Fregat rocket in August. Their elongated orbit took them out to 25,900 km above Earth and back down to 13,713 km, rather than the planned circular path at 23,222 km. The angle of the orbit to the equator was also wrong.
The satellites’ shifting altitude left them unable to lock onto Earth for part of each orbit, preventing them from being used for navigation purposes.
But, last month, a series of 11 maneuvers took the fifth satellite into a more circular orbit, some 3500 km higher, allowing its navigation payload to be switched on for testing. A similar salvage operation is planned soon for its companion.
The main hurdle in using the fifth (and subsequently sixth) satellite operationally is that mass market receivers in particular might take longer to find it. Their orbits fall outside the almanacs satellite-locating standard broadcast within navigation messages.
Utilizing navigation-assistance information would be a way of shortening acquisition times — and ESTEC’s Navigation Laboratory has already demonstrated it with mass market receivers.
Working in conjunction with the European Commission and Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency, the Lab performed position fixes with both Galileo and GPS satellites using only navigation-assistance information.
Test position fix in the grounds of ESTEC, performed with a mass-market receiver using navigation-assistance information, based on signals from the fifth Galileo satellite plus GPS satellites. This satellite’s elliptical orbit means extra data are needed to speedily utilize its signals, which could be provided through ground networks. Navigation-assistance information is already employed by the mass market receivers found within smartphones. Source: European Space Agency
EDITOR’S NOTE: Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) report on their success in producing a pseudorange-based all-Galileo position fix using precisely determined satellite orbits and clocks from Technische Universität München (TUM) in the January issue of GPS World. Richard Langley reports that his team at the University of New Brunswick has managed to produce a Galileo-only carrier-phase-based precise-point-positioning solution with better than decimeter accuracy using TUM’s orbits and clocks.
Also, GMV performed a first Galileo-only PPP with IOV + FOC-1 satellite with data from December 6, obtaining centimetric accuracy. Read about their results on their blog.
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Arianespace, ESA Sign Contract for New Galileo Launches
Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA), acting on behalf of the European Commission, have signed a contract for three launch services with Ariane 5 ES to step up deployment of Galileo satellites.
With this new launch contract and thanks to the performance of Ariane 5 ES, a total of 12 Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites will be launched using three dedicated Ariane 5 ES launch vehicles, each carrying four satellites. The Ariane 5 ES launches will take place from 2015 onwards.
Arianespace will be responsible for ensuring all of the 22 FOC satellites manufactured by the German group OHB System alongside the British company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. are taken into circular orbit at an altitude of 23,522 km using a combination of five Soyuz launch vehicles (two satellites per launch) and three Ariane 5 ES launch vehicles (four satellites per launch). The 22 operational satellites will join the four IOV satellites launched successfully by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center in 2011 and 2012.
Arianespace and its subsidiary Starsem were responsible for launching in 2005 and 2008 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome the initial satellites in the Galileo constellation, GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B, which were able to secure the frequencies allocated to the constellation.
The contract for Arianespace’s three Ariane 5 launches to orbit a total of 12 Galileo FOC satellites was signed at the Guiana Space Center by Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël (seated, at left) and Didier Faivre, ESA director of the Galileo Program and Navigation-related Activities. Joining them were ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Daniel Calleja Crespo, director general for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission. Once the contract had been signed, Stéphane Israël, chairman and CEO of Arianespace, made the following statement: “With its Ariane 5 ES heavy-lift launch-vehicle, Arianespace is able to provide the most appropriate solution for stepping up the deployment of the entire Galileo constellation. Ariane has once again demonstrated its excellence as it lends its expertise to Europe’s ambitions in space. With the three Ariane, Vega and Soyuz launch-vehicles operated from the Guiana Space Center, European spaceport, Arianespace is giving Europe guaranteed access to space and suitable solutions to meet its wide-ranging needs. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the European Commission and European Space Agency (ESA) for their continued trust. Being the launch operator of the Galileo program is an immense source of pride for Arianespace, its employees and its partners.”
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ESA Discusses Galileo Satellite Power Loss, Upcoming Launch
During the European Space Agency (ESA) audio press conference held Wednesday morning in advance of Thursday’s launch of two Galileo satellites, there was extended discussion on the problem with the fourth in-orbit validation or IOV satellite (FM4 or GSAT0104 with PRN code E20). The satellite suffered a power anomaly on May 27 as previously reported by GPS World.
The root cause of the problem has still not been identified despite looking at more than 40 possible failure scenarios so far. ESA has conducted extensive analyses of telemetry from the satellite as well as reviews of pre-launch tests. It has been determined, however, that the E5 and E6 frequencies have had a permanent loss of power. E1 appears to be OK and can be switched back into normal operation at any time. Currently, the satellite is transmitting on E1 but using a non-standard test code.
It was also revealed that FM2, the second IOV satellite, suffered a power drop of 2 dB about a year ago, and FM1, the first IOV satellite, has also seen a power drop. In the case of FM1, the problem is in the primary solid-state power amplifier, and there is a plan to switch shortly to the back-up unit. However, there doesn’t appear to be a common-mode of failure relating the power losses on the various satellites.
While the FM4 anomaly investigations are ongoing, the power on all of the IOV satellites has been backed off 1.5 dB.
Concerning the two full operational capability or FOC satellites to be launched tomorrow, ESA is not yet revealing into which orbit plane and slots the satellites will be placed. Nor are they saying yet which pseudorandom noise codes will be used by the satellites. Once the satellites are launched into their preliminary orbits, it will take about two weeks for them to drift to their assigned locations. At that time, we should be able to deduce their locations using, for example, United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) tracking data. And once they begin transmitting standard PRN codes, all-in-view receivers, such as those participating in the International GNSS Service Multi-GNSS Experiment, will be able to identify their codes.
The satellites will undergo testing for 73 days, after which they will be declared operational. ESA intends to use the passive hydrogen maser clocks on the satellites as the primary clocks, with the rubidium clocks used as back-ups.
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Galileo Satellites Encapsulated for Launch
UDPATE:
After a one-day postponement, The fifth and sixth Galileo satellites were successfully launched and deployed.
UPDATE:
Arianespace has decided to postpone the launch of Soyuz flight VS09 carrying Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites. This is due to unfavorable weather conditions over the Guiana Space Centre.
Another launch date will be decided depending on the evolution of the weather conditions in Kourou.
Europe’s latest Galileo satellites have been sealed within their launch fairing, atop the Fregat upper stage that will carry them into their final orbit on August 21, ushering in the system deployment phase and paving the way for the start of initial services. Galileo SATs 5-6 are scheduled to lift off at 12:31 GMT from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on top of a Soyuz rocket.
The two Galileo satellites had been attached together on the dispenser that secures them during flight, and then delivers them into orbit. Then August 14 saw the follow-on installation of the stack — the two satellites plus dispenser — onto the Fregat stage. The following day was the last time the two Galileo satellites were seen by human eyes, as the two halves of the protective launch fairing were sealed around the satellites and their upper stage.
Meanwhile, on August 18, the satellites’ three-stage Soyuz launcher was moved by rail onto its launch pad then lifted to the vertical position. The launcher’s mobile gantry was then moved into position around the upright launcher. This allows the next step of the launch campaign to take place, the hoisting up and attachment of the entire upper composite — the launch fairing containing the Galileo satellites, their dispenser and the Fregat fourth stage. At three hours, 47 minutes and 57 seconds after liftoff, the satellites will then be deployed from their Fregat by the dispenser’s pyrotechnic separation system, once their final 23,500 km altitude is reached.
These new satellites will join four Galileo satellites already in orbit, launched in October 2011 and October 2012 respectively. This first quartet were in-orbit validation satellites, serving to demonstrate the Galileo system would function as planned. Now that work has been done, the Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites being launched on Thursday are significant as the first of the rest of the Galileo constellation.
The payloads generating navigation signals to Earth have been manufactured by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the UK, while the satellites carrying them have been built by OHB in Germany.A steady stream of launches is planned for the next few years, with two Galileo satellites flown per Soyuz launch and four Galileo satellites flown per launch of an Ariane 5 variant currently in preparation.The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo program were carried out by ESA and co-funded by ESA and the EU. The Full Operational Capability phase is managed and 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.The August 21 launch can be watched live here.
The Galileo FOC satellite named “Milena” is mated on its Soyuz dispenser unit, joining the already-installed “Doresa” satellite. 
The fifth and sixth Galileo satellites met on their dispenser on August 11 in the S5 payload preparation facility of the Guiana Space Centre. 
The completed dispenser unit is ready to be transferred from the S5 payload preparation facility for its integration atop Soyuz’ Fregat upper stage. 
The fifth and sixth satellites meet for the first time, attached to the dispenser that will carry them into medium-Earth orbit (August 11). 
Fueling of the two satellites (August 7-8) allows them to fine-tune their orbits and maintain their altitude over the course of their 12-year lifetimes. 
Galileo satellites fastened to upper stage. 
Galileo satellites lowered onto upper stage. 
Galileo mission logos have been applied to the payload fairing, which encapsulates the two-satellite payload and their dispenser system. 
The local (Kourou) poster of the launch. 
Flight Operations Director Hervé Côme at ESOC. 
Artist’s rendering of an OHB-designed Galileo satellite. OHB in Germany and SSTL in the UK are building the next 14 Galileo satellites. Photo: European Space Agency 
The medium-lift workhorse has been raised into a vertical orientation as the mobile gantry is moved into position. -
Two More Galileo Satellites Scheduled for August 21 Launch
Artist’s rendering of an OHB-designed Galileo satellite. OHB in Germany and SSTL in the UK are building the next 14 Galileo satellites. UDPATE:
After a one-day postponement, The fifth and sixth Galileo satellites were successfully launched and deployed.
UPDATE:
Arianespace has decided to postpone the launch of Soyuz flight VS09 carrying Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites, because of unfavorable weather conditions over the Guiana Space Centre.
Another launch date will be decided depending on the evolution of the weather conditions in Kourou.
The next satellites in Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system will be launched on August 21, ushering in the system deployment phase and paving the way for the start of initial services, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Galileo SATs 5-6 are scheduled to lift off at 12:31 GMT (14:31 CEST, 09:31 local time) August 21 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on top of a Soyuz rocket. They are expected to become operational, after initial in-orbit testing, in autumn.
The launch can be watched live here.
The two satellites will join the four Galileo in-orbit validation satellites already in space. Launched in pairs in October 2011 and October 2012, these four satellites — the minimum required to obtain a position fix — served to demonstrate and validate the space and ground segments of the system.
Galileo SATs 7-8 are scheduled to follow end of year 2014. Then the constellation will be gradually deployed with six to eight satellites launched per year using a series of Soyuz and Ariane launches from Kourou, along with remaining elements of the ground network.
Satellite “Midwives”
Galileo’s post-launch team at ESA has finalized its preparations for taking control of the twin satellites. 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, or LEOP, phase begins, run from ESA’s Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany.
If the moment of separation is the point when satellites are born, then the LEOP team can be thought of as midwives.
Any tumbling from the satellites being pushed away pyrotechnically must be corrected, and their positions stabilized in space. Next, they have to deploy their solar wings, to ensure a steady flow of power.
Flight Operations Director Hervé Côme at ESOC. Then comes time to switch on and check out all the satellite systems one by one, to ensure everything has endured the launch in working order.
If all goes well, LEOP should take about a week before control of the satellites can be handed over to the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, overseeing the satellites, and ESA’s Redu centre in Belgium, for detailed payload testing.
Galileo’s LEOP team has been in training for months, explained Hervé Côme, flight director for Galileo at ESOC, with preparations stretching back two and a half years. “A simulation campaign has been running since March and the system and its operators have performed flawlessly,” Côme said. “To date, 20 simulations, in both nominal and contingency cases, have been conducted.”
Testing Teams and Technology
The satellites themselves participated in multiple end-to-end system compatibility tests to ensure that they are fully compatible with the various elements of the Galileo ground segment, extending to far-flung ground stations variously belonging both to ESA and to France’s CNES space agency, the Agency’s partner for LEOP.
A joint team from ESA and CNES oversaw LEOP for the first four Galileo satellites, similarly launched in pairs in 2011 and 2012. That work was carried out from CNES’s LEOP and Network Operations Control Centre in Toulouse, France.
This time, ESOC is hosting the LEOP team, with mission control and flight dynamics systems inherited from the first four in-orbit validation satellites adapted for these new Full Operational Capability (FOC) Galileo models.
The LEOP procedures and timeline have been fully validated, and system configurations frozen. From here on in, ESOC’s Mission Control Team — following a short summer break — will concentrate on further fine-tuning their organization and procedures in advance of next month’s launch.
The Galileo FOC satellite named “Milena” is mated on its Soyuz dispenser unit, joining the already-installed “Doresa” satellite. 
The completed dispenser unit is ready to be transferred from the S5 payload preparation facility at the Spaceport in French Guiana for its integration atop Soyuz’ Fregat upper stage. 
The local (Kourou) poster of the launch. -
Next Galileo Satellites Arrive in French Guiana
Europe’s next two Galileo satellites are unloaded from the Boeing 747 cargo aircraft at Cayenne. The two satellites are scheduled to be launched together by Soyuz from Europe’s Spaceport this summer. The first two Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites arrived safely at a clean room in Kourou, French Guiana, at 20:00 on Wednesday, May 7, in preparation for launch this summer.
Named “Doresa” and “Milena,” the two Galileo FOC satellites arrived at the Félix Éboué international airport in French Guiana at 02:00 local time. They spent the day in an airlock to acclimatize before being taken to their new home, the S1A clean room, where they could be safely unpacked to begin the launch campaign.
Europe’s two latest Galileo navigation satellites touched down at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana packed safely within protective and environmentally controlled containers. The satellites were carried across the Atlantic aboard a 747 cargo carrier, according to the European Space Agency.
Manufactured by OHB in Bremen, Germany, with navigation payloads contributed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in Guildford, UK, these satellites – the first of 22 full-capability models — had spent several months at ESA’s Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where they underwent exhaustive testing in simulated space conditions.
“Adam”, the third Galileo FOC satellite is currently undergoing testing under space conditions at ESTEC. The fourth Galileo FOC satellite, “Anastacia,” will begin final testing at OHB in Bremen before being shipped to ESTEC. The Galileo satellites are named for the children who won a painting competition organized by the European Commission in 2011.
After successfully passing the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) last week, Doresa and Milena were released for shipment to the French overseas department. “Thanks to the good collaboration between the participating industrial teams and the experts at the European Space Agency ESA as our customer, OHB was able to successfully finish the FRR,” says OHB’s Director of Navigation Wolfgang Paetsch who will be personally overseeing the launch preparations in Kourou.
On May 5, the two satellites left on a pair of lorries for Frankfurt Airport in Germany, from where they flew the following evening. After landing in French Guiana, the satellites were driven to the clean room. The pair will be launched together aboard a Soyuz rocket, joining the four Galileos already in orbit. This initial quartet — the minimum number needed for achieving a position fix — has demonstrated the overall system works as planned, while also serving as the operational nucleus of the coming full constellation.
“Similar arrival scenes should become familiar over the next couple of years,” said Giuliano Gatti, Head of ESA’s Galileo Space Segment Procurement Office. “These first two Full Operational Capability satellites are effectively preparing the way for the rest of the constellation, allowing the final validation of assembly, testing and launch preparation procedures. A steady stream of satellites is foreseen, coming from OHB to ESTEC for acceptance testing and then on to French Guiana. Thanks to the preparatory work done with these pioneer satellites, future Galileos will be processed more rapidly.”
The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo programme were carried out by ESA and co-funded by ESA and the EU. The Full Operational Capability phase is managed and 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. OHB System is the industrial prime contractor responsible for the total of 22 Galileo FOC satellites.
The two Galileo FOC satellites were enclosed in protective, air-conditioned containers for their flight. 
“Doresa” and “Milena” head to the clean room. 
The two satellites in the clean room. 
Dorese and Milena rest side by side in clean room S1A. -
Galileo Maritime Tests Followed Route of Viking Ships
Belgian frigate Leopold I-F930 in rough water off Norway during Galileo maritime testing. In December 2013 the frigate participated in the first maritime trials outside mainland Europe of the Galileo satellite navigation system. Results are being processed from the first Galileo maritime trials outside of mainland Europe. The long-range, high-latitude testing spanned the North Sea, following the same historical sailing route that Viking dragon-ships used 1200 years ago.
Ancient manuscripts record Viking navigators relied on “sunstones” to find their way — archaeologists believe these may have been polarizing crystals to pinpoint the Sun even in overcast skies.
By contrast, Belgian frigate Leopold I-F930, participating in the end-of-year trials, carried the most up-to-date equipment possible, with multiple Galileo receivers for both its public Open Service (OS) and secure Public Regulated Service (PRS).
“Galileo is in a transition between its In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase and follow-on Full Operational Capability phase,” said Miguel Manteiga Bautista, head of ESA’s GNSS Security Office. “This means we are engaging in all kinds of experimental demonstrations of all Galileo services, in particular PRS, which offers the most highly accurate positioning and timing performance, but with access strictly restricted to authorized users.”
The recorded course of Belgian frigate Leopold I-F930 during the first high-latitude trials of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system. The frigate sailed first from the Dutch marine base of Den Helder on 4 December 2013 to Stavanger in Norway. From there it progressed north in very rough seas with 10-m high waves, coming close to the Arctic circle on December 17 — a first for Galileo PRS observations — before heading homeward. The frigate sailed first from the Dutch marine base of Den Helder on December 4, 2013, to Stavanger in Norway. From there it progressed north in very rough seas with 10-meter-high waves, coming close to the Arctic circle on December 17 — a first for Galileo PRS observations — before heading home.
The testing provided tangible in-situ evidence of Galileo signal stability across both its operating frequencies up at high latitudes, equaling low satellite elevations in the local sky.
Following the completion of earlier road, then flight, testing last summer and autumn, the last challenge for Galileo’s IOV phase was to engage in a long-term maritime trial into high latitudes. The testing was performed as part of the PRS Participants to IOV project jointly managed by ESA and the European Commission, in collaboration with the European GNSS Office Agency and several Member States possessing PRS test receiver technology.
The trials were performed by the Royal Military Academy of the Belgian Ministry of Defence, the UK Space Agency in collaboration with Nottingham Scientific Ltd. and ESA, to ensure PRS signals were available whenever the four Galileo satellites in orbit came into view.
Two receivers, seen either side of the main antenna, were carried by Belgian frigate Leopold I-F930 during high-latitude testing of both Galileo’s publicly-available Open Service and secure Public Regulated Service in December 2013. A dual-test setup was fitted to the frigate at Den Helder. Belgium connected a PRS receiver and an OS receiver, both manufactured in Belgium by Septentrio NV, to a common antenna. The PRS receiver recorded raw PRS measurements on both frequencies while the OS receiver logged data from openly available Galileo, GPS and GLONASS signals at one-second intervals.
Nottingham Scientific installed its Ultra system configured to record radio-frequency samples, allowing the detailed post-processing of Galileo OS and PRS signals.
“As this was a first use of PRS equipment outside EU borders, the security issues were quite challenging,” said Bruno Vermeire, head of the Belgium Competent PRS Authority (Federal Public Service of Foreign Affairs). “Several partners from different countries and industries were involved. At all times the necessary security was assured, though this could not have been possible without the dedicated joint commitment of all partners.”
David Parker, head of the UK Space Agency, commented, “This test is a significant milestone on the road to demonstrating early PRS capability across a range of platforms. It should serve as a model for wider international collaboration between national governments and industry to prove and demonstrate PRS in different applications.”
Belgian frigate Leopold I-F930 at Den Helder dockyard in the Netherlands. Alain Muls, professor of the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, faced the challenge of coordinating the maritime trial without interfering with the normal operations of the frigate. “Thanks to the cooperation of with the Maritime Component of the Belgium Defence, in particular that of the frigate’s commander and crew, preliminary results look very promising. Reception of Galileo’s OS and PRS navigation services have been practically demonstrated under severe maritime conditions with waves of up to 10 meters in height.”
“This activity is a truly collaborative effort at all levels. The trial involved UK and Belgian governments and industry partners with support from different European bodies as well as officials from the Netherlands and Norway,” said Mark Dumville, Nottingham Scientific general manager. “This team effort has enabled the concept of radio-frequency sampling processing of Galileo PRS signals to be tested in real-world operational environments. We have confirmed that the prototype receiver is now ready to support European governments and associated PRS applications.”
The collaborative nature of this trial was formally recognized as the Leopold I-F930 reached Stavenger. Under the supervision of Belgium’s CPA, Jochen Devadder, the country’s Ambassador to Norway Michel Godfrind provided a Norwegian delegation with details of the testing.
Results from the trial will guide future Galileo developments for years to come.
