Two more satellites join Galileo service provision

The European GNSS Agency (GSA), along with the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), announce the commissioning of two additional satellites, bringing the total number of satellites available for the Galileo service provision to 18.

The GSA is pleased to announce the completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) of two new Galileo satellites, GSAT0212-SV ID 03- and GSAT0213-SV ID 04 -. Having passed all initial tests, the two satellites are now officially commissioned for operational use and are usable for the Galileo service provision (see NAGU 2017029 and NAGU 2017033).

The satellites join GSAT0207-SV ID 07- and GSAT02014-SV ID -5 -, which were previously commissioned on 30 May 2017, increasing the total number of satellites available for use with the Galileo service provision to 18. All four satellites were launched on 17 November 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana – the first launch using an Ariane-5 rocket.

Four additional satellites are expected to be launched in the coming months, further enlarging the Galileo constellation and improving its global performance. Launches will continue until the system reaches Full Operational Capability in 2020. The complete constellation will consist of 30 satellites in orbit (24 operational and six spares). 

About Galileo

Galileo is Europe's civilian global satellite navigation system. It allows users worldwide to know their exact position in time and space with great precision and reliability.

Once fully operational, Galileo will offer four high-performance services worldwide:

• Open Service (OS): open and free of charge service set up for positioning and timing services.
• Commercial Service (CS): a service complementing the OS by providing an additional navigation signal and added-value services in a different frequency band. The CS signal can be encrypted in order to control access to the Galileo CS services.
• Public Regulated Service (PRS): service restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications that require a high level of service continuity.
• Search and Rescue Service (SAR): Europe’s contribution to COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

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