This week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme features a Copernicus Sentinel-2 image over the Fucino area, in central Italy. Here lies the Fucino Space Centre, where Telespazio will manage the early orbit activities of the Meteosat Third Generation (ESA – meteosat third generation) Imager satellite, scheduled for launch next week.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Galileo has grown to become Europe’s single largest satellite constellation, and the world’s most accurate satellite navigation system, delivering metre-level positioning to more than 3.5 billion users around the globe.
It all began at ESTEC’s Test Centre, Europe’s largest satellite testing facility. This is where the very first positioning fix took place in March 2013, after the launch into orbit of the initial four IOV satellites. Following that, all 34 Galileo Full Operational Capability satellites also passed by ESTEC for their pre-flight testing. This 3000 sq. m environmentally-controlled complex, operated and managed by European Test Services for ESA, hosts an array of test equipment able to simulate all aspects of spaceflight, from the noise and vibration of launch to the vacuum and temperature extremes of Earth orbit. The production line at manufacturer OHB in Germany completed one new satellite every six weeks. After integration each satellite was then shipped to the ESTEC Test Centre for a three-month test campaign, after which it would be accepted by the Agency and declared ready for flight. Some facilities have had to be adapted specifically for Galileo, and the ESTEC Test Centre had to institute new security protocols because this was the first time that satellites with security restrictions were being tested at the site. Today there are 28 of these Galileo First Generation satellites in service, with 10 more due to be launched in the next years. Upgraded Galileo Second Generation satellites are under development and will follow them into orbit later this decade. Members of ESA’s Galileo team and ETS look back on this massive testing effort that established Galileo was ready for space.
*About Galileo* : Galileo is managed and funded by the European Union. The European Commission, ESA and EUSPA (the EU Agency for the Space Programme) have signed an agreement by which ESA acts as design authority and system development prime on behalf of the Commission and EUSPA as the exploitation and operation manager of Galileo/EGNOS.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
More than two billion smartphones, with users worldwide are now making use of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite constellation. But how do satellites thousands of kilometres away in space manage to tell you where you are and where you’re going? Simply being so far away is part of the answer – learn the details of the world’s most precise navigation system in this new video.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Europe’s next four Galileo satellites lifted off at 11:25 GMT (13:25 CEST, 08:25 local time) on 25 July from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 launcher.
En nuestros días el GPS es una herramienta muy útil. Los europeos han querido afinar su pecisión desarrollando el sistema EGNOS, precursor de la Constelación Galileo. En esta edición de “Space” podrá descubrir cómo funciona la navegación por satélite y sus aplicaciones.
Ai giorni nostri il GPS è uno strumento familiare e molto utile. Gli europei hanno voluto perfezionare la sua precisione sviluppando il sistema EGNOS, precursore della costellazione Galileo. La navigazione satellitare e le sue applicazioni in questa edizione di Space.
Heutzutage ist das GPS ein sehr nützliches Werkzeug, das aus dem Alltag nicht mehr wegzudenken ist. Mit dem System Egnos, Vorreiter der Satelliten-Konstellation Galileo, wollen die Europäer seine Treffsicherheit erhöhen. Die Satelliten-Navigation und ihre Anwendungen in dieser Ausgabe von “Space”.
Today GPS is a common and extremely useful tool. Europeans wanted to refine its accuracy by developing EGNOS, the precursor of the Galileo constellation. We look at satellite navigation and its applications.
