Giove-A2 to Secure Galileo Programme

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (United Kingdom) for initial activities leading to the construction of a second spacecraft for the Galileo satellite navigation system.

Named Giove-A2, the new satellite (estimated total value €25 to 30 million) will be based on the company's Giove-A technology.

ESA wishes to guarantee the continuity of the Galileo programme with the permanent presence of a spacecraft in orbit. This will maintain European rights to the frequencies and allow continuation of the experiments initiated with the successful Giove-A mission and planned for the upcoming Giove-B satellite.

Giove-A2 will help maintain the critical International Telecommunications Union (ITU) frequency filing secured by its predecessor for a further 27 months and facilitate further development of ground equipment.

Monitoring of the space environment will also be an important ongoing mission objective for the new satellite. Giove-A was the first European satellite to be launched into medium Earth orbit (MEO) and it carries two environmental monitors. These units have been operated almost continuously since launch and are gathering vital data about the Galileo orbit environment that will help in the design of the full constellation.

The new satellite will incorporate some enhancements over Giove-A which will allow additional signals to be generated and received on the ground. The aim will be to provide early in-orbit experimentation with the common baseline L1 open service signals recently recommended by the European Union and the United States. In the future, these open service signals will provide free of charge position and timing competitive with other GNSS systems.

The GIOVE-A2 satellite will be ready for launch in the second half of 2008. The actual launch date of this new satellite will be decided later, taking into account the situation of Giove-A and Giove-B.