Le Bourget, 13 de Junio de 2005
The first test satellite for the European navigation system Galileo is to be launched in winter 2005/06. The Galileo System Test Bed Version 2B (GSTB V2B) satellite is to be transported into space on board a Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
EADS Astrium is playing a leading role in the development and construction of the satellite. Final assembly of GSTB V2 is currently underway in Rome.
The satellite will secure the radio frequencies which the international telecommunications authority of the United Nations has earmarked for the European navigation system. Transmissions on these frequencies have to commence no later than June 2006.
GSTB V2 will also be used to try out technologies that have been developed for the Galileo project. For example, with the first signals from space it will be possible to test new receiving devices. In addition, the engineers will test critical technologies on board the prototype which will then be put into use on the 30 operational satellites. These include the atomic clocks and the signal generator. GSTB V2 will therefore carry the most accurate clock ever to have been launched into space. This is a Hydrogen Maser clock which has a maximum drift per day of only one nanosecond, i.e. one-millionth of a second.
Without solar generators, GSTB V2B, which weighs about half a tonne, is about the same size as a phone booth (1m x 1m x 2.4m). The satellite’s solar generators produce about 940 Watts. GSTB V2B will circle the Earth in a middle Earth orbit at an altitude of around 24,000km. The satellite is designed for a mission duration of two years. The prototype will be controlled from the Fucino control centre, near Rome. Ground stations are located in Italy and Sweden, and there is a further ground station in Belgium from where the tests will be conducted. The system lead for construction of the test satellite is with EADS Astrium in Ottobrunn, near Munich, the payload will come from the company's Portsmouth facility in the UK, and final assembly of the satellite is taking place in Rome.
Experience gained with the test satellite will flow into the construction of the first satellites for the European navigation system Galileo. The first four operational satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2008. Once again, EADS Astrium will have system responsibility for the construction of these satellites, acting as subcontractor to Galileo Industries. The complete Galileo system with 30 operational satellites is to enter into service at the end of the decade, following which Europe will have its own, civil satellite navigation system that is tailored to the needs of its civilian users. Galileo will open the door to new applications and markets for satellite navigation. Galileo’s market potential is greatest when it is combined with navigation, mobile telecommunications and position-related information services.
With its subsidiaries, EADS Astrium and EADS SPACE Services,
EADS SPACE is a key partner on the Galileo project. EADS Astrium is the biggest shareholder in Galileo Industries, the industrial prime contractor for the Galileo project. The iNavSat consortium which tendered for the business of operating the Galileo system is a joint venture between EADS SPACE Services, the British satellite operator Inmarsat and the French technology company Thales.
EADS Astrium is Europe’s leading satellite system specialist. Its activities cover complete civil and military telecommunications and Earth observation systems, science and navigation programmes, and all spacecraft avionics and equipment. EADS Astrium, wholly owned subsidiary of EADS SPACE, which is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems. In 2004 EADS SPACE had a turnover of €2.6 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2004, EADS generated revenues of € 31.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 110,000.
