A significant first for next month’s 11th Galileo launch: thanks to an upgrade of the world-spanning...
A significant first for next month's 11th Galileo launch: thanks to an upgrade of the world-spanning Galileo Control Segment, this will be the first launch where the satellites ' first steps into space will be overseen from an existing Galileo Control Centre, rather than requiring an external mission control site.
This is no longer the case thanks to the update of the Galileo Control Segment to Version 3.0.
Encompassing the two Galileo Control Centres in Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany and Fucino in Italy, as well as six Telemetry, Tracking and Control ground stations used to monitor and command the 26 Galileo satellites currently in orbit, the hugely demanding upgrade was performed by an industrial consortium led by GMV in Spain.
As well as increasing overall reliability and cybersecurity, this new upgrade also opens the way to significant expansion of the Galileo constellation, which at 26 satellites already equals Europe's largest satellite constellation.
This updated Galileo Control Segment is designed to enable oversight of up to 38 satellites, harnessing state-of-the-art technology using the latest solutions on the market.
The ground segment is divided into two segments: the Galileo Mission Segment, which oversees the functioning of the satellites' navigation payloads including the generation of their signal messages, and the GCS which oversees the functioning of the satellites themselves.
The purpose of the GCS is to monitor and control the satellites in the Galileo constellation employing the Galileo TT&C stations spread around the world.
"The original Galileo Control Segment design was initiated in the early 2000s and has consistently evolved to cope with the rate of Galileo launches but it was the time for a complete refresh," explains Pedro RodrÃguez de Andrés, GCS System Engineer.
"The deployment of the Galileo Control Segment v 3.0 is completed and now it is possible to perform all satellite activities, including LEOP, entirely from Galileo ground segment infrastructure."
For next month's launch of Galileo satellites 27-28, their LEOP will be overseen from Galileo's Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen.