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Two New Galileo Satellites to Rise in September

May 3, 2012  - By
Image: GPS World

The European Commission announced a September 28 launch date for the next pair of Galileo satellites. These will launch together on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana,  joining the two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites already in space.

The new launch will take place within a year of the flight of the first two Galileo IOV satellites, which reached orbit on October 21,  2011.  
 
The September launch will bring the nascent constellation to four, representing the minimum needed under optimal circumstances for satellite navigation — to measure latitude, longitude and altitude while checking ranging accuracy.  Therefore, according to the EC statement,  these four Galileo IOV satellites can be used to assess the performance of Galileo’s global ground system, which serves to maintain the precision of the Galileo system.

In addition, manufacturers worldwide should be able to realistically test prototype Galileo-based receivers and services against actual satellite signals.
 

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