GPS World, February 2014
THE SYSTEM Galileo to Sail Penalty Free Schedule Overruns Not a Problem Avers Space Agency Director General A though the European Commission EC sternly put in place financial penalties for late delivery and arrival on orbit of Galileo satellites the European Space Agency ESA that manages the process will not suffer the consequences of a one year delay in their launch The EC did not sign an industrial contract with the ESA for the Galileo work according to an announcement by ESA Director General Jean Jacques Dordain made the announcement in mid January 17 Dordain said under the agreement the EC pays for ESAs staff costs while ESA acts as technical manager for the program But the industrial contract itself to build the satellites and specifying the penalities was not encompassed by this agreement Galileos schedule is now firmly back on track according to ESA since the first OHB satellite passed thermalvacuum testing in November and the second satellite is in the test chamber Signals are apparently go for their launch in June aboard Soyuz rocket from Guiana Space Center in South America A second pair should launch in October and a third in December Meeting an Aggressive Date The EC committed some time ago to start initial Galileo services in 2014 Delivery on this promise has become increasingly unclear after recent testing delays Getting new Soyuz launch dates withing this year is not a sure fire thing either The Galileo Supervisory Authority earlier announced that it had validated the four initial operating capability IOV Galileo spacecraft in orbit as performing twice as well as expected in terms of signal accuracy However the satellites provide very limited use THE MAIN ANTENNA of the second Galileo Full Operational Capability FOC satellite being inspected with a flashlight in advance of mass property testing at the European Space Agencys ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands Thermal vacuum testing on the second model began in early 2014 The two FOC satellites will be launched on a Soyuz rocket from Europes French Guiana Spaceport in mid 2014 Whether four more can rise and begin providing initial Galileo services by the end of the year is the question of the hour about one hour per day when all are visible to the same user Once six satellites become visible inthe sky sometime after the planned June launch testing qualification of early services can begin With eight actual service qualification is possible but not certain Finally with 10 satellites December early services may be able to start Earlier last year EC Vice President Antonio Tajani had warned that financial penalties to those building Galileo would cover the cost overruns due to the delay in launching the system His finger appeared to point at ESA as much as OHB AG of Germany and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd of Britain who lead the industrial consortium building the satellites GPS World February 2014 www gpsworld com 10
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