Galileo

The seventh and eighth Galileo satellites have reached French Guiana to begin final preparations for launch aboard the Soyuz rocket in March.

The satellites landed at Cayenne-Félix Eboué Airport on an Air France Boeing 747, and were transported to Europe’s Spaceport.

Designated as Flight VS11, the planned mission will be Arianespace’s fourth launch with Galileo spacecraft to date.

Germany-based OHB constructed the satellites, while SSTL in Guildford, UK provided the navigation payloads.

The satellites are tested at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

"Designated as Flight VS11, the planned mission will be Arianespace’s fourth launch with Galileo spacecraft to date."

As part of the tests, each satellite was subjected to space environment, including acoustic noise and thermal vacuum simulations, as well as plugged into the global Galileo ground network.

The latest launch will resume the interrupted building of the satellite navigation constellation.

In August 2014, the Galileo 5 and 6 satellites launched on Soyuz were placed into wrong orbits due to an error in the Fregat upper stage. Galileo is Europe’s global satellite navigation constellation with 30 satellites in medium earth orbit at an altitude of 23,222km.

The programme is designed to provide an accurate global positioning system under civilian control.

During Galileo’s Full Operational Capability phase, complete operational and ground infrastructure of the network will be implemented.

The programme is backed by the European Commission, while the ESA manages design and procurement activities.

Image: The Galileo 7 and 8 satellites will be launched aboard the Soyuz rocket in March. Photo: courtesy of ESA / Paul Muller.