Arienespace

Arianespace has successfully integrated the first of two Galileo navigation satellites on its payload dispenser system for orbiting on its scheduled 21 August Soyuz flight.

Called VS09, the medium-lift mission will be executed from the Soyuz ZLS launch facility in the spaceport’s northern sector close to the city of Sinnamary.

Doresa, the first Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellite, will be joined by its forthcoming partner Milena. They will meet atop the Soyuz Fregat upper stage and will be encapsulated within a protective payload fairing.

"The goal of the Galileo constellation is to develop a European-operated space-based navigation system to offer highly precise, assured global positioning services."

Built by OHB System, Doresa and Milena are the first FOC satellites for the Galileo constellation. The goal of this constellation is to develop a European-operated space-based navigation system to offer highly precise, assured global positioning services.

The FOC phase is being backed by the European Union, and the European Space Agency is the Galileo system’s development and sourcing agent.

Surrey Satellite Technology’s payloads on-board spacecraft aim to offer precision positioning measurements and services to global users worldwide.

Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate ferried two Galileo in-orbit validation element (GIOVE) satellites in December 2005 and April 2008 on Soyuz missions launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

These missions were followed by four Galileo satellites deployed for the system’s in-orbit validation (IOV) phase, launched in pairs aboard the Soyuz craft from French Guiana in October 2011 and October 2012.

Image: Installation of Galileo FOC satellite Doresa on its payload dispenser system. Photo: courtesy of Arianespace.

Defence Technology