GIOVE-A on the launch pad Credits: ESA

One year of Galileo signals; new website opens

A little over one year ago today, GIOVE-A began transmitting Galileo navigation signals.

This satellite is the first flight element in ESA’s in-orbit validation programme for Galileo.

Carried into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Soyuz launch vehicle on 28 December 2005, GIOVE-A then successfully completed the initial tasks in its mission – orbit injection, deployment of its solar arrays and the commissioning and check-out of its various payload systems – before commencing the transmission of navigation signals.

This signal transmission has secured the use of the frequencies allocated to the Galileo system by the International Telecommunication Unit (ITU), achieving
the primary mission for which the satellite was constructed.

The receivers that have been developed for Galileo were able to receive the first signals at ESA sites at Redu (Belgium) and Noordwijk (Netherlands), at the Chilbolton Observatory (UK) and at the Guildford (UK) mission control centre of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the prime contractor for GIOVE-A.

Information on the GIOVE mission is now accessible at http://www.giove.esa.int This new website provides general information to the public and measurement data and core products to registered external users who are collaborating with ESA on the mission experiments.

Galileo is a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and ESA. The EC is responsible for the political dimension and the high-level mission definition. ESA’s responsibility covers the technology development as well as design, development and in-orbit validation of the space and ground elements.

See also:
• Potential Interference To Galileo From 23cm Band Operations
http://www.southgatearc.org/articles/galileo.htm

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