The Galileo satellites 'Nicole', 'Zofia', 'Alexandre' and 'Irina' are in Earth orbit

DLR German Aerospace Center
- Web Portal News -


The Galileo satellites 'Nicole', 'Zofia', 'Alexandre' and 'Irina' are in Earth orbit - New additions to the navigation system will provide almost complete global coverage from mid-2018


On 12 December 2017 at 19:36 Central European Time (15:36 local time), the 'Nicole', 'Zofia', 'Alexandre' and 'Irina' satellites of the European Galileo satellite navigation system were launched to space on board an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. This was the second successful launch of the specially modified Ariane-5ES version, on which four Galileo satellites, each weighing around 715 kilograms, can be transported simultaneously, an will eventually be placed in a 23,222-kilometre-high orbit. "The satellites will now undergo six months of commissioning in space before being integrated into the navigation system," explains Rene Kleessen, Galileo Programme Manager at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Space Administration. "From mid-2018, almost complete global coverage using Galileo signals will be possible."



Full article with images: http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10081/151_read-25412/year-all/#/gallery/29350

DLR space research:
www.dlr.de/space

Stay up to date - Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube:

http://www.twitter.com/dlr_en
http://facebook.com/DLRen
http://youtube.com/dlrde

For updates in German:
http://www.twitter.com/dlr_de
http://facebook.com/DLRde