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The System: Galileo Leaves the Building

June 1, 2013  - By

In the early hours of May 15, Galileo’s first full operational capability (FOC) satellite left manufacturer OHB System AG’s integration hall in Bremen, Germany, after successfully completing integration and system testing. Later that same day, it arrived by road at the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) technical center at Noordwijk in the Netherlands for a rigorous set of tests to check its readiness for launch. The tests will simulate different aspects of launch and space environment. The comprehensive test program will validate the new design and all the FOC satellites to follow.

This first FOC satellite is functionally identical to the first four in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites already in orbit, but has been built by a separate industrial team. Like the other 21 FOC satellites so far procured by ESA, the satellite’s prime contractor is OHB System AG, and the navigation payload was produced by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in Guildford, UK.

Thermal vacuum testing at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) will simulate temperature extremes the satellites must endure in the airlessness of space throughout their 12-year working lifetimes. Without any moderating atmosphere, temperatures can shift hundreds of degrees from sunlight to shadow.

Other activities on the schedule include shaker and acoustic noise testing — simulating the vibration and noise of launch — as well as electromagnetic compatibility and antenna testing, placing the satellite in chambers shielded from all external radio signals to reproduce infinite space and check that its various antennas and electrical systems are interoperable without harmful interference.

“The Galileo FOC satellites provide the same capabilities as the previous IOV satellites, but with improved performance, such as higher transmit power,” explained Giuliano Gatti, the head of the Galileo Space Segment Procurement Office. “They are to all intents a new design that requires a full checkout before getting the green light for launch.”

The second FOC flight model is due to arrive at ESTEC in early June, and the third in the middle of July. The first two satellites are to be placed in orbit on board a Soyuz launcher, with a scheduled lift-off from Kourou in French Guyana this fall, with two more due to follow by the end of the year.

The first four Galileo IOV satellites, launched in 2011 and 2012, were provided by EADS Astrium with Thales Alenia Space Italy responsible for integrating the satellites and Astrium in Portsmouth, UK, providing the navigation payloads. They provided their first navigation fix in March 2013.

The definition, development and in-orbit validation phases of the Galileo programme are being carried out by ESA and co-funded with the European Commission (EC).

The subsequent FOC phase is managed and funded by the EC. The commission has delegated the role of design and procurement agent to ESA for the FOC phase. At the same time as the satellites are being assembled on a production-line basis, ground stations are also being established on European territories around the globe.

Photo credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.

Photo credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.

GPS Leaves This Earth

A t 5:38 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (21:38 UTC) on May 15,  the fourth GPS IIF satellite, Space Vehicle Number (SVN) 66 built by Boeing, ascended towards orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

“The GPS constellation remains healthy and continues to meet and exceed the performance standards to which the satellites were built. Our goal is to deliver sustained, reliable GPS capabilities to America’s warfighters, our allies, and civil users around the world, and this is done by maintaining GPS performance, fielding new capabilities and developing more robust modernized capabilities for the future,” said Colonel Bernie Gruber, director of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s GPS Directorate.

The new capabilities of the IIF satellites will provide greater navigational accuracy through improvements in atomic clock technology; a more robust signal for commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications, known as the new third civil signal (L5); and a 12-year design life providing long-term service. These upgrades deliver improved anti-jam capabilities for warfighters and improved security for military and civil users around the world, the Air Force said in a statement.

The IIF-4 satellite is expected to complete testing in August, after which it will be utilized as a reserve or backup satellite. It becomes the fourth satellite in a 12-strong network of GPS IIF spacecraft manufactured by Boeing as lead contractor, the first of which was boosted into orbit in May 2010. The Air Force expects the first of the next-generation GPS IIIA satellites to enter service sometime in 2014.

System Briefs

GLONASS. The GLONASS 747 M-series satellite launched on April 26 has maneuvered into an orbital slot near GLONASS 728, the operational satellite in Plane 1, slot 2. 747 will presumably serve as a reserve until it replaces 728, unless another Plane 1 satellite expires first. The next Russian launch, a GLONASS-M trio, is scheduled for July 1. There are currently 24 operational GLONASS satellites.

IRNSS. The first Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System satellite is expected to rise at the end of June. The IRNSS plans to orbit of seven: three geostationary and four geosynchronous, providing regional coverage via navigation signals in the L5 and S bands.

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