The first twin of Galileo FOC satellites was launched from Guiana Space Centre by Soyuz rocket into medium-Earth orbit on Friday 22 August. Both satellites carry solar-array substrate panels that were manufactured by Airborne under contract of our client Dutch Space.
Final countdown led to a launcher liftoff on Thursday, 22 August at 14:27 CEST (12:27 UTC/GMT). See a video of the launch here. Almost four hours after liftoff, the satellites were deployed from their Fregat, by the dispenser’s pyrotechnic separation system, once their final 23 km altitude was reached. The fuel on board both satellites allows them to fine-tune their orbits and maintain their altitude over the course of their twelve-year lifetimes.
These Galileo FOC satellites will join four Galileo IOV satellites already in orbit, launched in October 2011 and October 2012 respectively. This first quartet were ‘In-Orbit Validation’ satellites, serving to demonstrate the Galileo system would function as planned.
Airborne manufactured the substrate panels for the twenty-two ‘Full Operational Capability’ (FOC) satellites that are funded by the European Committee and procured by ESA. Airborne has delivered all the eighty-eight Galileo substrate panels to our client Dutch Space.
GALILEO
The ‘Full Operational Capability’ satellites that were launched this week signal the start of the completion of the Galileo constellation, following the successful In-Orbit Validation of the navigation technology.
The payloads, generating navigation signals to Earth, have been manufactured by Surrey Satellite Technology in the UK, while the satellites carrying them have been built by OHB in Germany.
Dutch Space is the main player of the Dutch space industry and Europe’s leading independent solar array manufacturer for spacecraft. Dutch Space is responsible for the design, qualification and MAIT (manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing) of the complete solar-array system for all the Galileo satellites. The solar-array systems are integrated to the satellite structure by OHB in Bremen.
A steady stream of launches is planned for the next few years, with two Galileo satellites flown per Soyuz launch and four Galileo satellites flown per launch of an Ariane 5 variant currently in preparation.