Feature story
Arianespace will launch first operational Galileo satellites on Soyuz
June 15, 2009
The European Space Agency (ESA) will begin building its operational constellation of Galileo navigation satellites beginning in 2010 with the use of two Arianespace Soyuz launch vehicles, each of which are to orbit a pair of spacecraft in missions performed from French Guiana.
Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall and Rene Oosterlinck, director of the Galileo Program and Navigation related activities at ESA, inked the launch services contract during an opening-day signature ceremony at the 2009 Paris Air Show. The Galileo system will be Europe’s own space-based global navigation satellite network, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control.
The four satellites covered by this new launch contract are part of the Galileo’s program’s In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase, and will weigh approximately 700 kg. each. They are to be placed into 23,000-km. circular orbits. Both Soyuz missions are to lift off from the new Soyuz launch facility at the Spaceport in French Guiana, which currently is in the advanced phase of its construction and outfitting.
Arianespace’s Starsem subsidiary orbited the two predecessor Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE) satellites using Soyuz vehicles operated from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. GIOVE-A was orbited in December 2005, followed by GIOVE-B in April 2008. Both spacecraft were launched to secure the frequency slots for the Galileo constellation, and they validated key space-based navigation technologies, including rubidium atomic clocks.
“By selecting Arianespace to launch the Galileo IOV satellites, ESA confirms to Arianespace its mandate to provide Europe with an independent access to space, and we are very proud of being associated with the Galileo programme – placing European space capacity on center-stage,” Le Gall said after the signing.
The Galileo system will comprise 30 dedicated navigation satellites and a ground infrastructure with the main control centers in Europe and a network of dedicated stations deployed around the world.
“All of us in Arianespace, as well as everyone in the Russian and European companies involved in this project, are fully committed to providing ESA our best services which will make this ambitious project a full European success – as well as a stepping stone to the future deployment of the complete Galileo constellation,” Le Gall added.
Today’s Galileo launch contract signing at the Paris Air Show was preceded by another ceremony to confirm a framework contract concerning the procurement of Arianespace launch services for future ESA missions. This document was validated by Le Gall and Antonio Fabrizi, the Director of Launchers for ESA.
- For additional information on the new Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase contract, see the press release.
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