First Galileo satellite named as it is prepared by SSTL for December launch

The first Galileo satellite was given its official name 'GIOVE' by the Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works & Water Management, Ms Karla Peijs, in a ceremony at ESTEC with senior ESA and EU staff and attended by over 50 journalists.

The ESA Director of Telecommunications and Navigation, Giuseppe Viriglio, also confirmed the launch date for GIOVE as the 28th December and congratulated SSTL with its team of European payload suppliers on achieving such a remark-able schedule. Minister Peijs emphasised the criticality of the Galileo system for Europe and the importance of the first step towards the eventual operational constellation of 30 satellites taken by ESA and the EU with GIOVE-A led by SSTL.

Designed and built at SSTL-UK and carrying several European payloads, GIOVE-A, as the satellite will be known before launch, will provide the first Galileo navigation and timing signals from space to prepare for the development of the full constellation. It is planned to be launched on 28 December from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan onboard a Soyuz rocket into a 23,616 km circular 56 degree inclination medium Earth orbit (MEO).

SSTL has recently successfully completed several key phases of the pre-flight environmental and functional test campaign at ESA ESTEC recently. First the solar array panels test deployment were witnessed by customer representatives from the European Space Agency, followed by mass properties and alignment tests.

Vibration tests were successful in all axes and acoustic tests were completed on schedule last week. The next stage of the preparations will concentrate on the clamp band release test and launch adapter fit check. Finally EMC tests will be performed, followed by a full satellite checkout before GIOVE-A is shipped by airplane to Baikonur.

Originally called the 'Galileo System Test Bed v2A (GSTB-v2A)', the 28M Euro 30-month contract for the 600kg, 3-axis stabilized GIOVE-A satellite platform was awarded by ESA to to SSTL in July 2003. SSTL was considered to possess capability to undertake the development, construction and launch of such a complex test satellite within the tight time constraints imposed by the Galileo frequency filing that needs to be demonstrated in orbit by June 2006.

ESA press releases describing SSTL & the background to GIOVE-A can be seen at:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM10V638FE_index_0.html
and http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM55I638FE_index_0.html

and a BBC article on Galileo and GIOVE-A can be seen at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4417290.stm

SSTL website

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