Galileo is the European Union's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), managed by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) with design and development by the European Space Agency (ESA). It provides highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning services under civilian control with improved positioning and timing information. Galileo offers various services, including an Open Service (OS) for mass-market use, a Search and Rescue (SAR) function, a High Accuracy Service (HAS), and a Public Regulated Service (PRS) for authorized users.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Arianespace launched four Galileo satellites on 2018-07-25 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.
The 2018-07-25 launch was the third time an Ariane 5 rocket was used for a Galileo mission.
Each of the four Galileo satellites launched on 2018-07-25 has a mass of 715 kg.
The four Galileo satellites launched on 2018-07-25 were expected to come online in January or 2019-02-01.
The Galileo network is designed so that four satellites will be available to provide a signal from any given place in the world.
The Galileo program is managed by the European Commission under a contract with the European Space Agency.
Of the 26 Galileo satellites that have launched, 14 are currently operating.
The Galileo program is expected to cost EU member states a total of 10,000,000,000 EUR through 2020.
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, a U.K.-based subsidiary of Airbus, built Galileo’s navigation payload and will provide the navigation payload for the next 12 Batch 3 satellites.
Seventeen smartphone brands were integrating Galileo as of late 2017, including Apple, Sony, Google, and Samsung using Galileo-enabled chipsets in recent models.
End-of-2017 data showed that 186 million Galileo-enabled smartphones had been produced and shipped.
Bremen, Germany-based OHB Systems AG built the Galileo satellites launched on 2018-07-25 and will continue as prime contractor for the Batch 3 satellites.
Contracts for the Batch 4 Galileo satellites are planned to be signed at the end of 2019.
Arianespace is under contract to launch the first two pairs of Batch 3 Galileo satellites using the Ariane 6 rocket in 2020 and 2021.
With the 2018-07-25 deployment, the total number of satellites in the Galileo constellation reached 26.
The four Galileo satellites launched in December 2017 remained in their testing phase after that launch.
The first two Batch 3 Galileo satellites are expected to launch at the end of 2020.
The four Galileo satellites launched on 2018-07-25 were deployed into a 23,000-kilometer medium-Earth orbit approximately four hours after liftoff.
U.K. entities have played an integral part in designing, developing, and managing Galileo, particularly in delivering satellite payloads, the ground control segment, and developing the PRS software.
The European Commission plans to allocate 9,700,000,000 EUR to the Galileo and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) satellite navigation systems for 2021–2027.