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.

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.

Kourou -French Guiana – The site of a ground station for Galileo, Europe’s global navigation satellite system, inside the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), near Kourou in French Guiana, was inaugurated on 19 November.

The site, which was made available by France’s Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), will play an essential role in the setting up of the Galileo system, since it will accommodate the most comprehensive of the Galileo ground segment stations. The Kourou station will consist of a telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) station to monitor and control the Galileo constellation satellites, a Ground Sensor Station (GSS) for acquisition of the satellite navigation signals, and two uplink stations (ULS) for transmission of navigation and integrity messages to the satellites.

In all, the Galileo ground segment for the in-orbit validation phase (IOV) will comprise 18 sensor stations, 5 uplink stations, 2 telemetry, tracking and command stations, and 2 Galileo Control Centres (GCCs). The Control Centres will be situated at Fucino in Italy, hosted by Telespazio, Finmeccanica Group, and Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany, hosted by the German Space Agency. The data gathered by the sensor stations will be continuously transmitted to the GCCs where they will be processed by mission control in order to determine the navigation and integrity messages to be sent back to the satellites via the uplink stations. The Galileo system’s capability to directly inform its users of the integrity level of its signal represents a major advance compared to other satellite navigation systems.

Sources: ESA, CNES.