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Post Info TOPIC: GSTB-V2/A & GSTB-V2/B
Blobrana


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GIOVE
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The GIOVE-A satellite is in good health and started transmitting the first Galileo signals from medium Earth orbit on 12 January.

GIOVE-A was placed in orbit (altitude 23,260 km) by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket operated by Starsem on 28 December last from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The prime contractor, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, then successfully deployed the 7-metre solar array panels, commissioned the satellite platform and prepared the payload for tests from its Mission Control Centre. These activities on GIOVE-A drew on the joint efforts of ground stations deployed at RAL (UK), Bangalore (India) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for uploading of the onboard computer software, deployment of the two solar panels and placing of the satellite in sun-acquisition mode.

All the platform systems underwent functional checks and the satellite was then put in its nominal Earth-pointing attitude and orbit control mode. This platform commissioning phase was successfully completed by 9 January.

On 10 January, payload commissioning started from the SSTL Mission Control Centre with the objective of verifying that all the units in the navigation payload were functioning properly.

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Blobrana


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RE: GSTB-V2/A & GSTB-V2/B
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The lift-off of the Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the GIOVE-A satellite as it blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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Blobrana


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Galileo Satellite
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The first signals have been received from a Galileo navigation spacecraft launched from Russia's Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan yesterday.

"We've got good news. Galileo has been placed on a predetermined orbit, and the first signals have been received" - Alain-Fournier Sicre, head of the European Space Agency (ESA) mission in Moscow.


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Lift off of Soyuz carrying GIOVE-A

"The spacecraft was put into a target orbit at a calculated time. It separated from the Fregat upper stage. From this point in time, the European Space Agency has taken control of the spacecraft. At about 4:00 p.m., Fregat will be put into a disposal orbit and turned into space debris, which is being monitored by Russian space control systems" - Spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).

-- Edited by Blobrana at 19:09, 2005-12-29

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Blobrana


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RE: GSTB-V2/A & GSTB-V2/B
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The first satellite will orbit the Earth at the height of 23,000 kilometres with the aim to test a series of advanced technologies for the Galileo system.
The Galileo will be Europe's own global navigation satellite system, providing highly accurate global positioning service under civilian control. It will operate in conjunction with GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation systems.



-- Edited by Blobrana at 18:12, 2005-12-28

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Blobrana


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GSTB-V2/A launch
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Video of launch

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Blobrana


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RE: GSTB-V2/A & GSTB-V2/B
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The Russian Soyuz rocket has successfully launched the first satellite of Galileo, a European satellite navigation system.
The Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 05:19 GMT (12:19 am EST ) Wednesday and placed the GIOVE-A satellite into a circular medium Earth orbit; the satellite separated from the Fregat upper stage three hours and 42 minutes after lift-off.

GIOVE-A (Galileo In Orbit Validation Element A) is the first test satellite for the planned 30-satellite navigation system. The satellite, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in the UK, is intended to test key technologies planned for the operational system and put into use frequencies reserved for the system before a 2006 International Telecommunication Union deadline.
A second test satellite, GIOVE-B, is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2006.

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Blobrana


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GIOVE launch
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GIOVE-A, now mated with the Soyuz launcher that will carry it into orbit, is in position on launch pad six at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A successful launch rehearsal for Soyuz, GIOVE and the ground station network has been completed.

Lift-off is still set for 05:19:08 UTC (06:19:08 CET, 11:19:08 Baikonur local time) on 28 December.


GIOVE-A atop the Soyuz launcher on pad six at Baikonur Cosmodrome
Credits: ESA

GIOVE-A and the Fregat launcher upper stage, encapsulated in the rocket nose cone, travelled by rail to the launcher integration facility where they were mated with the third stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle. After installation of a thermal cover over the fairing, or nose cone, GIOVE-A, Fregat and the Soyuz third stage were mated with the first and second stages of the launcher.

Separation of GIOVE-A and Fregat from the Soyuz launcher is scheduled to occur 8m:49s after lift-off. GIOVE-A and Fregat will part company 3h:42m:31s after lift-off, injecting GIOVE into its final, circular orbit 23 222 km above the Earth. Early on-orbit operations such as solar array deployment are expected to be completed 7h:32m:31s after launch at 12:51:39 UTC. Satellite commissioning will commence soon thereafter.

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Blobrana


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RE: GSTB-V2/A & GSTB-V2/B
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Blobrana


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Tribute
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The UK-built satellite due to lift off on 28 December at 05:19 GMT, aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan carries a tribute to a young British space engineer who died in the Boxing Day tsunami.

Tom Fairbairn, who was 25, worked on Giove-A, the test mission for Europe's satellite-navigation system, Galileo.

Giove-A will demonstrate some of the new sat-nav system's key technologies, such as atomic clocks.
The mission will pave the way for the full Galileo constellation of 30 satellites, which will work alongside the US-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).
An important difference between the two is that the European network will be a civilian-run service - not a military one.
Giove-A was built in Guildford, Surrey, by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), a company with about 200 employees that has become a world leader in producing small satellites.

Tom Fairbairn, who worked on the satellite's structural design team, died with his parents while on holiday at Khao Lak in Thailand last year.

"There is a plaque on the side [of the Giove-A satellite] and we would like to dedicate it to him" - Philip Davies of SSTL.

Giove-A and its "sister" satellite, Giove-B, set for launch in 2006, will broadcast the first Galileo signals from space. The pair make up the test-bed mission that will demonstrate the Galileo potential.

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Blobrana


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GIOVE-A
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An anomaly has been detected in the ground station network for the satellite GIOVE-A during preparations for launch.
The necessary re-configuration and validation are currently predicted to lead to a delay of at least two days for this launch, originally scheduled to take place on 26 December.

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