When the next pair of Galileo satellites is boosted into orbit next Friday, a team of mission control experts in Darmstadt, Germany, will spring into action, working around the clock to bring the duo through their critical first days in space.
Europe’s ninth and tenth Galileo satellites have been attached to the dispenser that will hold them during their flight up into space, then release them into their planned orbits.
Europe’s latest Galileo satellites are fully fuelled, leaving them ready to be attached to their launcher upper stage in preparation for next month’s launch.
Europe’s latest Galileo satellites are fully fuelled, leaving them ready to be attached to their launcher upper stage in preparation for their 11 September launch.
The next two satellites in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system will be launched together on 11 September, taking its orbital constellation a step closer to initial services. Media are invited to take part in an audio briefing on 10 September.
The next two satellites in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system will be launched together on 11 September, taking its orbital constellation a step closer to initial services. Media are invited to take part in an audio briefing on 10 September.
Europe’s ninth and tenth Galileo satellites have crossed the Atlantic, touching down in French Guiana ahead of their joint launch this September.
Reliable precision satnav for aircraft is already a reality in European skies, thanks to the ESA-designed EGNOS service. France’s Toulouse-Blagnac Airport recently hosted a dedicated EGNOS Day, demonstrating the service in action, both on the ground and in the air.
Europe’s latest Galileo was unboxed at ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands last month, bringing the total number of satellites at the site to four.
The ESA-developed EGNOS system for sharpening the accuracy of satnav across Europe has been adopted by a growing number of airports to enable satellite-guided landing approaches. The new Airbus A350 airliner, currently entering service, comes fitted with it as standard.
The next decade’s aircraft pilots will be able to rely on enhanced, reliable satellite navigation signals on a seamless basis across much of the world, thanks to decisions made at the latest gathering of worldwide satnav augmentation system providers and experts.
Students still have time to join the ESA International Summer School on Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which will take place in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of August.
Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system, currently under construction, will affect many aspects of daily life. It also promises to be a valuable scientific yardstick – a new highly precise measuring system to apply to our planet and everything on it, and even to space-time itself.
Their systems performing well, Europe’s recently launched Galileo navigation satellites have carried out a set of manoeuvres that will take them down to their working positions in orbit.
The worldwide Ground Mission Segment providing all Galileo navigation messages has completed a full-scale hardware and software migration to version V2.0, and is now fully operational again.
The EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system now has eight satellites in orbit following the launch of the latest pair.
Thousands of engineers have worked on the seventh and eighth navigation satellites of Europe’s Galileo constellation in recent years, but last Friday marked the very last time the spacecraft were glimpsed by human eyes.
The seventh and eighth Galileo satellites, set for launch together in nine days’ time, have been fitted together onto the dispenser that will carry them during their flight to orbit.
The sixth Galileo satellite of Europe’s navigation system has now entered its corrected target orbit, which will allow detailed testing to assess the performance of its navigation payload.
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.
In Roman times the milestone was the central method of navigation, with all distances fixed from a ‘golden milestone’ in the imperial capital. Today, navigation satellites have become the modern equivalent of milestones – but Rome still has a role to play.
Another two Galileo satellites have touched down in French Guiana ready to take their place in Europe’s satellite navigation constellation.
Galileo’s navigation messages will shortly stop being updated, in order to enable the migration of a new release for Galileo’s world-spanning ground mission segment.
ESA engineers unwrapped a welcome Christmas present: the latest Galileo satellite. The navigation satellite will undergo a full checkout in Europe’s largest satellite test facility to prove its readiness for space.
Galileo's fifth satellite – recently salvaged from the wrong orbit to begin navigation testing – has been combined with three predecessors to provide its very first position fix.
A pair of fully functioning Galileo navigation satellites was recently delivered to its operators, as preparations get underway for the next round of launches.
Work at ESA’s ESOC control centre continues relentlessly on the two Galileo satellites.