Mr René Oosterlinck, ESA’s Director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities, signed the first three contracts for the Galileo full operational capability phase. This event marks the start of building the Galileo operational infrastructure.

The signing ceremony took place at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre at Noordwijk (The Netherlands) in the presence of Mr Matthias Ruete, Director General ‘Energy and Transport’ of the European Commission (EC) and Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General. These contracts cover system, satellites and launch activities.

The contract signed with Thales Alenia Space (Italy) covers the industrial system support activities provided to ESA as Galileo system prime: system engineering, system performance, system assembly, integration and validation, signal-in-space engineering, security engineering and product assurance

For the space segment, and following the signature of framework contracts with OHB-System AG (Germany) and EADS at the end of 2009, the first work order signed with OHB covers the manufacture of 14 satellites, with delivery of the first satellite in July 2012, followed by two satellites every three months.

As prime contractor, OHB teamed up with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL; UK). OHB will lead the system level activities and is responsible for the spacecraft platform. SSTL is responsible for the satellite payload.

For launch services, the contract covers the provision by Arianespace of five Soyuz launchers with an upgraded Fregat upper stage, to be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, each placing two satellites in their final orbit.

Following the announcement on 7 January by Mr Antonio Tajani, EC Vice-President in Charge of Transport, of the award of these contracts, the signature of the contracts by ESA – acting for the first time on behalf of the Commission – is an important step towards the deployment of Galileo and marks a major milestone in the cooperation between the EC and ESA.

The contract has a value of about € 85 million, it will cover the period 2010 till 2014,  through which Galileo will be developed to become operational in early 2014.

Luigi Pasquali, CEO for Thales Alenia Space Italy, today attending the signing ceremony at ESTEC, declared:  “Thales Alenia Space is particularly proud to sign this important contract obtained under a strong competition. This contract confirms the key role played by our company in one of Europe’s most ambitious space projects. In the Rome factory, Thales Alenia Space is already fully involved in the assembly, integration and testing of the 4 IOV (In Orbit Validation) satellites of the constellation, and is now ready to face up to this new challenge, providing system Support Services.”
Sources: Thales Alenia Space, ESA.

The team consisting of the US firm Lockheed Martin and the Italian company e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) has been awarded a contract worth up to USD 85 million by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide data, products and services from the COSMO-SkyMed satellites.
The contract was signed in Denver (Colorado) and has a duration of five years.
Under this agreement, Lockheed Martin and e-GEOS will provide the NGA with images acquired from the Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellites, which will be used to develop a wide range of US government applications.

For e-GEOS, which is jointly owned by Telespazio (80%) and the Italian Space Agency
(20%), the contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency represents a key commercial and strategic success in the highly competitive US defence market.
This achievement was made possible thanks to the unique and innovative features of the
COSMO-SkyMed satellite system, which is a dual-use system intended for both civil and military applications funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Italian Ministry of Defence.

The system is designed to operate using four satellites with synthetic aperture radar sensors (the first three satellite are already in orbit, while the fourth will be launched during 2010). These satellites are capable of operating day and night in all atmospheric conditions, and with frequent revisit times (every six hours at mid-latitudes with four operational satellites).

The COSMO-SkyMed constellation can provide images with a resolution as high as 1 metre and has the capacity to record up to 2,400,000 square kilometres per day to be used for security applications, ground surveillance, environmental monitoring and natural resource management by public sector bodies and industry.

Telespazio was responsible for building the civil and military ground segments of the system, and now controls the constellation’s in-orbit operations from the Fucino Space Centre. e-GEOS manages the acquisition and processing of the satellite data, and sells the data on the international market.

Sources: Finmeccanica, Telespazio, ASI.

After a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on 12 January, causing major casualties and damage the rescue teams needed new satellite high resolution maps, because such a powerful earthquake can make current maps suddenly out of date, causing additional challenges to rescue workers on the ground.

Following the event, the French Civil Protection authorities, the Public Safety of Canada, the American Earthquake Hazards Programme of USGS and the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti requested satellite data of the area from the International Charter on ‘Space and Major Disasters’. The initiative, referred to as ‘The Charter’, is aimed at providing satellite data free of charge to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world.

To meet the requirements of the rescue teams in Haiti, Very High Resolution imagery is needed from both optical and radar sensors. Through the Charter, the international space community is acquiring satellite imagery as quickly as possible. Currently, data are being collected by various satellites including Japan’s ALOS, CNES’s Spot-5, the U.S.’s WorldView and QuickBird, Canada’s RADARSAT-2 and ESA’s ERS-2 and Envisat.

Satellite imagery acquired immediately after the event is used to generate emergency maps to provide rescue services with an overview of the current state of the area. These can be compared with situation maps generated from archived satellite data to identify major changes on the ground caused by the disaster.

Comparison of the maps from before and after the event allows areas that have been hit hardest to be distinguished and identify passable routes for relief and rescue workers. Additionally, they can help to identify areas which are suitable for setting up aid camps where medical support and shelter can be provided to people.

The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security’s SAFER project is collaborating with the Charter to provide a specialised capacity to produce damage maps over the area. SAFER’s value-adding providers SERTIT from Strasbourg and the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) centre for satellite-based crisis information (ZKI) from Munich are currently working on this.

Together with ESA and CNES, the Charter, founded in 2000, currently has 10 members: the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the British National Space Centre/Disaster Monitoring Constellation (BNSC/DMC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Sources: ESA, CNES

Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President in charge of Transport, has announced the award of three of the six contracts for the procurement of Galileo’s initial operational capability.

The European Commission has selected the consortium led by OHB-System AG (Germany) and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL, UK) for building and testing 14 satellites for the Galileo satellite navigation system, a programme funded by the European Union. This selection is a major milestone for the European Commission, assisted by the European Space Agency, which initiated the tendering process for these satellites in September 2008.

Berry Smutny, CEO of OHB-System AG, stated upon learning of the decision “We are very pleased and honoured with the Commission’s decision. Galileo is one of the EU’s most important infrastructure programmes entering now the decisive implementation phase.“

Matt Perkins SSTL’s Group CEO added “Through the GIOVE programme, (first test satellite of Galileo constellation, n.d.r.) SSTL has demonstrated that it has the ability to play a major role in Galileo. We are very pleased that the OHB-SSTL team has been selected for part of the full operational system”.

As a result of this decision, OHB-System will be assuming the role of prime contractor for the fabrication of the 14 satellites, including full responsibility for developing the satellite platform and overall integration of the satellites. SSTL will build and integrate the navigation payloads and support OHB with the final integration, using its successful experience from GIOVE-A , the first Galileo satellite, launched in 2005. The 14 satellites will be assembled in Bremen.

OHB-System successfully built and launched the German SAR-Lupe radar reconnaissance system, a constellation of five satellites, for surveillance and security.

Sources: SSTL, OHB, ESA

Vessel traffic security of Venice lagoon will be guaranteed by SELEX Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica Group Company. Selex has been awarded a contract for the realization of the phase 1 of the Integrated Monitoring Telematic System (STIM) that will enable the vessel movements surveillance of the Venice lagoon and perform, in a security way, the protection barriers that are actually at a realization phase within the MOSE project.

SELEX Sistemi Integrati supply is composed by surveillance systems belonging the new LYRA 10 radar family and KA band radar developed by the Finmeccanica Company. Based on a solid state technology and characterized by a low level of electro-magnetic emissions, LYRA are the last generation radar suitably planned by SELEX Sistemi Integrati for territorial security purposes.

Moreover, utilizing commercial components for signals processing, LYRA radar do not request high maintenance levels and the periodical replacement of the components that characterize conventional radar.

The project, launched and financed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructures – Bench of Venice Waters – is part of the lagoon safeguard interventions plan. In particular, through the real-time monitoring of the vessel traffic of the area, up to Bocche di Porto of Malamocco until the harbour area of Marghera, the STIM system will signalled boats presence or impediments of the barriers raising designated to protect the lagoon from the tidel wave phenomena.

STIM system implied technology came from the ones already used for the National VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) dedicated to vessel traffic control, part performed by the terrestrial segment, part through satellite systems. Sharing the same functions, the two systems, are completely integrable and able to give a complete and detailed view of vessel traffic, both inside and outside the lagoon.

Source: Finmeccanica.

The OverHorizon satellite provides a regenerative system for broadband communication via the satellite to, from and between small, inexpensive user terminals (“the Regenerative Communication System”) installed on moving vehicles, such as cars, trucks, boats, airplanes, etc. The application field is one of the most promising in the future of satellite communications and services.

”Thales Alenia Space, as worldwide leader in satcom payload, is proud to contribute to OverHorizon with cutting-edge payload  technologies to provide  efficient, regenerative and transparent capacity. This innovative flexible payload, which relies on Thales Alenia Space in-orbit heritage and proven performance, will offer OverHorizon a position to be a decisive contender at the market with a highly versatile and adaptable mission, perfectly suited to their customers’ expectation” said Mr. Emmanuel Grave, Telecommunications Executive Vice-President for Thales Alenia Space. Great satisfaction was expressed also by  Mr. Michael Larkin, Orbital’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Space Systems Group, and Mr. James Gerow, President of OverHorizon.

Sources: Thales Alenia Space, OverHorizon, Orbital Science

Oleg Kotov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut

Soichi Noguchi, launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the

International Space Station on Sunday, are onboard of the ISS. 

The Soyuz rocket docket Tuesday December 22.

Liftoff of the Soyuz occurred from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The three Soyuz crew members joined the Expedition 22 crew members

Jeff Williams, a NASA astronaut and the station commander,

and Max Suraev, a Russian cosmonaut and station flight engineer,

aboard the orbiting laboratory. The crew will now spend six months

in orbit. The station's five residents have some busy months ahead.

Kotov and Suraev will conduct a planned spacewalk in January.

Less than a week later, Williams and Suraev will fly the Soyuz

spacecraft that brought them to the station from its current

location on the end of the outpost's Zvezda service module to the

new Poisk module. In February, the crew will welcome a Progress

unmanned resupply ship and space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130

mission.

Endeavour and its crew will deliver the new Tranquility node and its

cupola, one of the last major portions of the station to be

installed.

Sources: NASA, JAXA, ROSCOSMOS.

On December 24, 1979, the member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), for the first time,  launched their own rocket into space – the foundation stone of the extraordinary success story of the Ariane launcher system.

While ESA celebrates this anniversary, an Ariane 5 GS launcher, last December 18,  lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on a journey to place the French military reconnaissance satellite Helios-2B into Sun-synchronous polar orbit. Flight V193 was the seventh Ariane 5 launch of 2009 and used the last of the GS variant of the launcher.

The satellite was accurately injected into its target orbit about 59 minutes later.
The launcher’s main engine was shut down at 9 min 32 sec; six seconds later, the main cryogenic stage separated from the upper stage and its payload.
At 59 min 19 sec after main engine ignition, Helios-2B separated from the upper stage.
This was the 49th launch of an Ariane 5 and the 35th successful launch in a row.

The Ariane 5 launcher is a key to the development of a common European security and defense policy, in which the space segment plays a pivotal role. HELIOS 2B was the 33rd  military payload to be lofted by the European launcher. Its task is mainly in the field of optical observation.
HELIOS 2B is an element of the second-generation spaceborne observation system for security and defense applications, conducted by France in conjunction with Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain.

Sources: ESA, Arianespace.

Paris –  At the Paris headquarters of the French space agency (CNES), Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, and Thierry Duquesne, CNES Director for Strategy, Programmes and International Relations, signed an agreement that paves the way for the launch of a high-accuracy atomic clock to be attached to the outside of the European Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS).
 
The PHARAO (Projet d’Horloge Atomique par Refroidissement d’Atomes en Orbite) atomic clock, which will be combined with another atomic clock, the Space Hydrogen Maser (SHM), to form ESA’s Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES), will have an accuracy of 1×10^-16, corresponding to a time error of about one second over 300 million years.

This new generation of atomic clocks in space will be instrumental in enabling accurate testing of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. In addition, it will contribute to the accuracy and long-term stability of global timescales, e.g. International Atomic Time (TAI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and also help in the development of applications in the field of geodesy, and support applications involving remote sensing via the GNSS network.  

Source: ESA, CNES

Bejing – China launched last week a remote-sensing satellite, “Yaogan VII,” from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province. The satellite was successfully launched into the space on a Long March 2D carrier rocket, the center reported.

It will be mainly used for scientific experiment, land resources survey, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention and reduction, according to the center. The satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. The rocket was designed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. The flight was the 120th of the Long March series of carrier rockets.

The satellite’s predecessor, “Yaogan VI,” was launched in April, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province.

 Source: Space Daily