- Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:31 pm
#3354
Europe's first Galileo satellites lift off
Europe's first satellite-navigation spacecraft are heading into orbit.
The two Galileo satellites were launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from its new base in French Guiana at 07:30 local time (10:30 GMT; 11:30 BST).
The European Commission (EC) is investing billions of euros in its own version of the American GPS system.
It expects Galileo to bring significant returns to EU nations in the form of new businesses that can exploit precise space-borne timing and location data.
The Soyuz mission is a long one - it will be several hours before confirmation is received that the satellite pair have been put in their correct orbit 23,000km above the Earth.
The spacecraft are pathfinders for the Galileo system as a whole.
Together with another pair of satellites to be lofted next year, they will prove that Galileo works as designed, from the spacecraft in the sky to all the control and management operations on the ground.
Read more here...
1: Like Baikonur, Sinnamary has a large flame bowl under the pad
2: A key difference is the mobile gantry, withdrawn prior to launch
3: Soyuz receives a big boost by launching closer to the equator
4: Rockets are brought to the pad along a 700m-long rail line
5: The segments of a Soyuz are assembled in the MIK building
6: Launch control is just 1km from the pad, in a secure bunker
7: Other buildings on the 120ha site include propellant storage areas
Source: BBC Science and Environment
Europe's first satellite-navigation spacecraft are heading into orbit.
The two Galileo satellites were launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from its new base in French Guiana at 07:30 local time (10:30 GMT; 11:30 BST).
The European Commission (EC) is investing billions of euros in its own version of the American GPS system.
It expects Galileo to bring significant returns to EU nations in the form of new businesses that can exploit precise space-borne timing and location data.
The Soyuz mission is a long one - it will be several hours before confirmation is received that the satellite pair have been put in their correct orbit 23,000km above the Earth.
The spacecraft are pathfinders for the Galileo system as a whole.
Together with another pair of satellites to be lofted next year, they will prove that Galileo works as designed, from the spacecraft in the sky to all the control and management operations on the ground.
Read more here...
1: Like Baikonur, Sinnamary has a large flame bowl under the pad
2: A key difference is the mobile gantry, withdrawn prior to launch
3: Soyuz receives a big boost by launching closer to the equator
4: Rockets are brought to the pad along a 700m-long rail line
5: The segments of a Soyuz are assembled in the MIK building
6: Launch control is just 1km from the pad, in a secure bunker
7: Other buildings on the 120ha site include propellant storage areas
Source: BBC Science and Environment
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