Europe’s next Galileo satellites in place atop Ariane 5

Europe’s subsequent Galileo satellites have been put in place on high of the Ariane 5 launcher as a consequence of elevate them from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday 25 July.

The launcher – showing headless within the absence of its last payload – was moved from the BIL Launcher Integration Constructing, the place it was assembled, to the BAF Remaining Meeting Constructing, prepared for the Galileo satellites to be mated with it.

“In preparation for his or her launch the 4 satellites have been switched off, other than their battery charging line and one other upkeep energy line to their passive hydrogen maser –  or PHM for brief –  atomic clocks,” studies Jean Verniolle, ESA’s Galileo mission director for this launch.

Transferring Galileo’s launcher

“Subsequent Galileo satellites 23–26 have been built-in one after the other on 4 successive days onto the Galileo dispenser that can maintain them securely in place for launch, and to kind what we name the launch ‘stack’.”

On the night of Tuesday 10 July, this built-in stack was transported to the BAF, then hoisted on high of the Ariane 5 the next day. The following step got here on Thursday, when the protecting launcher fairing – emblazoned with the Arianespace Flight VA244 brand – got here down and enclosed the satellites, the final time they have been glimpsed by human eyes.

Galileo satellites

The times that observe will see intensive exercise on the launcher facet.  In the meantime the dormant satellites will stay beneath temperature-controlled air flow beneath the fairing, with their battery and PHM atomic clock upkeep traces being stored lively and monitored repeatedly till launch.

The PHMs are essentially the most exact atomic clocks ever flown for navigation, and protecting them powered on upfront of launch serves to maximise their reliability. Every Galileo satellite tv for pc carries two PHMs plus two rubidium atomic clocks as backups.

“A proper launch costume rehearsal might be carried out on 18 July, one week earlier than the launch,” provides Jean.

“Then on the next day we are going to maintain a launch readiness overview for the 4 Galileo satellites, adopted by an Arianespace overview of the launcher, the launch website and infrastructure, and the readiness of satellites and the launch and early orbit section community, on 20 June, confirming a go for launch.”

The totally built-in Ariane 5 might be rolled out from the BAF to the launch pad on 23 July, scheduled to take round 1 hour 35 minutes.

The launch countdown will begin round 2300 native time on Tuesday 24 July, with launch scheduled at 11:25 GMT (13:25 CEST, 08:25 native time) on Wednesday 25 July.

Lifting as much as launcher

Upon separation of the satellites from the launch car, the launch and early orbit (LEOP) section will start, whereby the satellites might be powered up and brought to their last orbital positions, upon which the in-orbit assessments might be undertaken earlier than the satellites might be declared operational.

This launch will mark Europe’s 99th Ariane 5 flight. The 4 new Galileo satellites will convey the constellation from 22 to 26 satellites in orbit.

The satellites are manufactured by OHB Techniques (DE), with the launch undertaken by Arianespace (FR) each beneath contract to ESA. The LEOP is carried out by the Galileo operators SpaceOpal (DE, IT) along with CNES (FR) beneath duty of the GSA, the European GNSS Company.

The Galileo System started Preliminary Companies on 15 December 2016, and greater than 100 million units are utilizing Galileo right now.

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe’s personal international satellite tv for pc navigation system, consisting of each the satellites in area and their related floor infrastructure.

The definition, improvement and in-orbit validation phases have been carried out by ESA, and co-funded by ESA and the European Fee. This section created a mini-constellation of 4 satellites and a decreased floor phase to validate the general idea, forward of additional deployment.

Success led to the present Full Operational Functionality section, totally funded by the EU and managed by the European Fee. The European Fee and ESA have a delegation settlement by which ESA acts as system design authority and procurement agent on behalf of the European Fee.