13.02.2019

Galileo: another 4 satellites come into service. The system now guarantees worldwide coverage

The 4 Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites launched on 25th July 2018 from the European Space Centre in French Guiana, using an Ariane-5 ES carrier, have successfully completed the in-orbit test phases and have become fully operational on the 11th February 2019. They are added to the 18 satellites already in operation which supply services of the European satellite positioning and navigation system.

The current configuration of the Galileo constellation now includes a total of 26 satellites:  4 IOV (In Orbit Validation) and 22 FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, of which 22 are in service to supply the Galileo Services, and 4 are being used for experimentation and optimisation.

For the first time, the current configuration makes it possible to obtain your position anywhere on earth, using only the Galileo System. In fact, from any part of the planet at least 4 Galileo satellites can be seen – above the horizon. This is the minimum number required to be able to obtain precise location.

The coming into operation of the 4 satellites was announced to the community of Galileo users by the European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency (GSA).

Spaceopal is in charge of all the Galileo service operations and is heavily involved in all the phases of the Galileo system’s operational life span, managing the provision of the navigation signals and the in-orbit control of the satellites.

Spaceopal also manages the IOT system at Redu (Belgium) for the In Orbit Test phase for the launched satellites and is also in charge as Mission Director of the LEOP phase with the CNES team in Toulouse performing the LEOP operations.

The fully established constellation and infrastructure of Galileo consists of 30 satellites distributed over three orbits, approx. 20 sensor stations for monitoring the navigation signals, two satellite control centres – one each in Oberpfaffenhofen (Bavaria, Germany) and in Fucino (Abruzzo, Italy) – the GNSS Service Center in Torrejón de Ardoz (Spain), several mission-uplink stations and satellite control transmitting stations.

As Service Operator of the Galileo system, Spaceopal provides high-quality navigation and timing for users worldwide.