ESA Signs Contract For Eight More Navsats

ESA today signed a contract to build a further eight Galileo satellites, alongside other agreements to modify Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher to carry four navigation satellites at a time. Prime contractor OHB System AG in Bremen, Germany, and partner Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) in Guildford, UK were awarded the contract to construct and test the Galileo satellites. OHB is responsible for the satellite platforms and overall integration, while SSTL is building the navigation payloads. ESA also signed two contracts with Astrium in France, to modify the more powerful Ariane 5 ES variant of the launcher to deploy four Galileo satellites at a time into medium orbit. The Ariane 5 ES is currently used for launching ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station at around 380 km, but requires changes and requalification to deliver satellites to orbital altitudes of 23 222 km. Europe’s Galileo satellites combine the best atomic clocks ever flown in space for navigation – accurate to one second in three million years – with a powerful transmitter to broadcast precise navigation signals.