GPS World: GIOVE-B Ready for Launch, Says ESA

GIOVE-B Ready for Launch, Says ESA
http://sidt.gpsworld.com/gpssidt/content/printContentPopup.jsp?id=501367

Mar 7, 2008

As the dust settles on Europe's decision to keep Galileo afloat --
literally and figuratively -- and the European Parliament assumes a
lead role in the program, the second Galileo satellite is nearing its
launch date.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says the GIOVE-B satellite will soon
leave the ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC)
in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where it is undergoing final
preparations, and be flown to Baikonur in Kazakhstan on March 11. It
is scheduled to be launched into orbit from Baikonur aboard a Starsem
Soyuz/Fregat launch vehicle on April 27. The second Galileo satellite
has completed its pre-launch testing, according to the ESA.

GIOVE-B will test novel, key technologies for the Galileo system,
such as the high-precision passive maser clock and the triple-channel
transmission of navigation signals. Instruments onboard the satellite
will measure the radiation and spacecraft charging environments.
Following on from GIOVE-B, the first four satellites of the
operational constellation are under development. They are scheduled
for launch in 2010 and will enable a system-level verification of the
Galileo design, according to the ESA.

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