{"id":16073,"date":"2015-09-11T22:20:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T14:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-brings-galileo-navigation-system-into-double-digits\/"},"modified":"2015-09-11T22:20:03","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T14:20:03","slug":"launch-brings-galileo-navigation-system-into-double-digits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-brings-galileo-navigation-system-into-double-digits\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch brings Galileo navigation system into double digits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A Soyuz rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 0208:10 GMT Friday (10:08:10 p.m. EDT) with Europe\u2019s next two Galileo navigation satellites. Credit: ESA\u2013Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Russian rocket released two Galileo navigation satellites nearly 15,000 miles above Earth early Friday, adding to a growing fleet giving Europe an independent space-based positioning system tracking automobiles, airplanes and cell phone-carrying people around the world.<\/p>\n

The identical satellites, nicknamed Alba and Oriana, deployed from their hydrazine-fueled space tug at about 0556 GMT (1:56 a.m. EDT) Friday.<\/p>\n

European officials confirmed the rocket injected the phone booth-sized satellites into an on-target orbit about 23,500 kilometers (14,600 miles) up, and declared the mission a total success.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, it is a success for Galileo,\u201d said Stephane Israel, chairman and CEO of Arianespace, which operates the Soyuz rocket from French Guiana. \u201cAlba and Oriana are the ninth and 10th Galileo spacecraft to be orbited by Arianespace. They will soon join their teammates in the constellation, which will consist of 30 satellites and build European autonomy in the field of positioning, navigation and timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 151-foot-tall Soyuz rocket fired away from a launch pad in French Guiana at 0208:10 GMT (10:08:10 p.m. Thursday), soaring through the stratosphere and into space as each of its three core stages took turns accelerating the launcher northeast over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

The legendary Soyuz rocket, with its roots at the dawn of the Space Age in the 1950s, was flying for the 12th time from the European-run Guiana Space Center on the remote northern shores of South America.<\/p>\n

A Fregat upper stage stacked atop the Soyuz rocket took over for a pair of engine firings to guide the Galileo satellites into a circular orbit thousands of miles above Earth. The tandem payloads simultaneously separated from a dispenser on the Fregat stage and radioed their status to Earth as planned, officials said.<\/p>\n

The platforms, each weighing 1,576 pounds (715 kilograms), will extend their power-generating solar panels and slightly lower their orbits to join the Galileo constellation in the coming weeks. The launch targeted an altitude just above the operational fleet to keep from adding space junk to the Galileo traffic lanes.<\/p>\n

The Galileo system is Europe\u2019s analog to the U.S. military\u2019s Global Positioning System and Russia\u2019s Glonass navigation satellites, which provide worldwide service. China is building its own global navigation network \u2014 called Beidou \u2014 while India and Japan are fielding regional versions.<\/p>\n

By 2020, European officials say the Galileo system will be fully deployed with 30 satellites \u2014 24 operational birds and six spares \u2014 spread in three orbital planes to ensure global coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not only thinking of Galileo 9 and 10 of the constellation we are now trying to construct, but we also have to think into the future,\u201d said Jan Woerner, ESA\u2019s director general. \u201cThere must be a second generation because these satellites will not live forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalileo is, for me, much more than just some satellites flying around our globe,\u201d Woerner said in remarks early Friday. \u201cIt is, for me, the proof for cooperation in Europe and beyond, even in difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of the fully deployed Galileo network. Credit: ESA-J. Huart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The satellites launched Friday, made by OHB System of Germany, targeted Plane A of the Galileo constellation. The spacecraft carry L-band navigation payloads built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of the United Kingdom, which is also responsible for supplying highly-accurate atomic timepieces for the satellites.<\/p>\n

Besides offering an independent navigation service, Galileo will give users equipped with new interoperable chipsets extra precision with combined GPS, Glonass and Galileo signals.<\/p>\n

Working together, the GPS and Galileo satellites could offer the global population positioning information with an accuracy of just a few centimeters, an improvement from the several-meter error publicly available with GPS today.<\/p>\n

The best GPS signals are reserved for military use, just as Galileo\u2019s most accurate positioniong estimates will be regulated.<\/p>\n

The Galileo system \u2014 expected to cost $7.9 billion (7 billion euros) to complete by 2020 \u2014 is run by the European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive body, and the European Space Agency acts as contract agent and technical advisor.<\/p>\n

With 10 satellites now in orbit, the Galileo program aims to begin limited services when the 14th craft becomes operational some time next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen satellites is only one-third of the full constellation, but we have behind us the full development, and the implementation of the first satellites, so we\u2019re very confident the new ones will be operated with full success,\u201d said Didier Faivre, ESA\u2019s director of navigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very confident now with the stage of the production, the state of the tests and the state of preparation in Kourou (at the Guiana Space Center)\u2026 We are there,\u201d Faivre said before the launch.<\/p>\n

But the initial Galileo satellites have not been spared trouble.<\/p>\n

Two spacecraft launched in August 2014 were dispatched into the wrong orbit, but ground controllers maneuvered the satellites into quasi-circular orbits, close enough to their intended positions to be incorporated into the fleet.<\/p>\n

Another satellite has a problem with a navigation antenna.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of a Galileo navigation satellite. Credit: ESA-J. Huart, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMany challenges remain ahead, but today we have made another significant step,\u201d said Matthias Petschke, director of the European Commission\u2019s satellite navigation program. \u201cOur objective is that we want Europe to be endowed with the first global civilian navigation satellites. Our objective, in the near future, is to provide new types of services \u2014 services for our citizens and for our corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next pair of Galileo satellites are set for launch Dec. 17 on another Soyuz flight. They will be shipped from ESA\u2019s test facility in the Netherlands to French Guiana this autumn.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalileo will be a powerful navigation system for its worldwide users, and for a variety of applications, and we at OHB are very proud to be able to deliver the core element of this (global) navigation system,\u201d said Andreas Lindenthal, chief operating officer at Bremen, Germany-based OHB.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next two satellites are already finished and ready for acceptance, and can be launched,\u201d Lindenthal said. \u201cThe other satellites are coming soon in a very tight sequence in the production, assembly and testing activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials plan to place four Galileo satellites aboard a heavy-lifting Ariane 5 rocket some time in 2016, which would give the system 16 satellites in space by the end of next year, according to Faivre.<\/p>\n

Faivre said the program aims for one Soyuz launch and one Ariane 5 mission \u2014 for a total haul of six satellites \u2014 in 2017. Another Ariane 5 will go up in 2018 for the Galileo system to fill up with 26 satellites.<\/p>\n

The European Commission and ESA plan to order four or six new satellites by the end of the year for launches in 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty satellites by 2020 is achievable,\u201d Faivre said.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Soyuz rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 0208:10 GMT Friday (10:08:10 p.m. EDT) with Europe\u2019s next two Galileo navigation satellites. Credit: ESA\u2013Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015 A Russian rocket released two Galileo navigation satellites nearly 15,000 miles above Earth early Friday, adding to a growing fleet giving Europe an independent space-based positioning system tracking automobiles, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[498,1060,831,1763,1397,1773,395,3263],"class_list":["post-16073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-arianespace","tag-european-commission","tag-european-space-agency","tag-fregat","tag-galileo","tag-guiana-space-center","tag-navigation","tag-ohb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}