The Galileo satellites 27 and 28 were launched on-board of a Soyuz carrier 4 December 2021 at 21:19, Kourou time – or 5 December at 01:19 CET from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The 46m tall rocket brought the Galileo satellites to their new home located 23,222 km above us, in its medium-Earth orbit.
The Galileo Launch 11 is the first of a series of 6 launches (with two satellites per launch), and the EUSPA team is ready for a cooperative EU space mission!
Role of EUSPA in the launch 11
The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) with the Galileo Service Operator SpaceOpal are in charge of the satellite operations after separation from the Launch vehicle from the first command onwards. The satellite operations are overseen by a tightly-knit team of specialists, ranging from spacecraft to ground engineers, from operations to design and manufacturing specialists, and from commanding through mission direction and project management.
Launch and Early Orbit Phase is one of the most exciting and important phases of a space mission, as it handles the launch of the spacecraft, its travel into the correct orbit, gradually switching on the spacecraft platform to test the core satellite elements. It is made possible by a robust collaboration between EUSPA, the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and our industrial partners.
An important milestone
27 and 29 January 2022 marked an important milestone in the life of Galileo GSAT0223 and GSAT0224 launched on 5 December 2021.
The prime payloads were successfully switched on, and for the first time, both satellites were transmitting navigation signal to start a three-week test campaign to demonstrate their in orbit performances, before eventually being declared ready to enter service in the Galileo constellation. The satellites reached their final orbit on 21 January 2022.
Subscribe to the Notice Advisory to Galileo Users (NAGUs) for all the latest on the Galileo constellation.
You can find below the recording of the live streamed launch
English version Live Stream
Version Française du lancement