Second Galileo IOV Satellite Transmitting Signals
News courtesy of CANSPACE Listserv.
On Monday, 16 January, at about 02:18 UTC, the second of the two Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites, FM2 (Flight Model 2) also known as GSAT0102, started transmitting navigation signals on the L1/E1 frequency using the E12 ranging code, according to tracking reports from the COoperative Network for GIOVE Observation (CONGO).
FM2 was launched together with PFM, the ProtoFlight Model (GSAT0101), on October 21, 2011. PFM started transmitting E1 signals on December 10, 2011, and E5 signals on December 14, according to CONGO network tracking reports. Subsequently, ESA confirmed that the E6 transmitter was powered up the weekend before Christmas.
CONGO is a global network of 19 tracking stations established by the German Space Operations Center (DLR/GSOC) and the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) in cooperation with several agencies including Technische Universitaet Muenchen.
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