Galileo Future and Evolutions

GALILEO
Title	Galileo Future and Evolutions
Edited by	GMV
Level	Basic
Year of Publication	2011

The Galileo program is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. While providing autonomous navigation and positioning services, the system established under the Galileo program will at the same time be interoperable with other GNSS systems such as GPS and GLONASS. The system will consist of 30 satellites, to be deployed in a staggered approach, and the associated ground infrastructure.

Galileo phases

The Galileo program has been structured according to three main phases:

1. In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase:

   The IOV phase consists of qualifying the system through tests and the operation of two experimental satellites and a reduced constellation of four operational satellites and their related ground infrastructure.

   The two experimental satellites were launched in respectively December 2005 and April 2008. Their purpose was to characterize the Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) environment (radiations, magnetic field etc) and to test in such environment the performance of critical payload technology (atomic clocks and radiation hardened digital technology). They also provide an early experimental signal-in-space allowing securing the frequency spectrum required for Galileo in accordance with WRC RNSS allocations. The first 2 Galileo operational satellites were launched by ESA with the Soyuz VS01 flight on 21st October 2011 and were declared fully operational since April 2012. The next two Galileo satellites, completing the IOV quartet, were launched on 12th October 2012 by the Soyuz ST-B launcher from the Guiana Space Centre (please refer to ESA website for videos on the launches) and they are transmitting signals on E1, E5 and E6 band since December 2012. More information on the Galileo IOV Satellites can be found here. The first position fix using the IOV satellite quartet, was reported on the 12th of March 2013 by ESA's navigation laboratory in the Netherlands. After that ESA started a wide variety of IOV tests all across Europe to assess the performance of the system sub-set already deployed. As of February 2014 Galileo achieves In-Orbit Validation since the results of the tests shown that "Galileo works, and it works well". The performance to be achieved will effectively be reached as more satellites are launched and ground stations come on line.

2. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) phase:

   The IOC stage will be the partial commissioning of the ground and space infrastructure as from 2014-2015 and the provision of the Open Service, the Search And Rescue service and the PRS. The procurement of the IOC phase includes the first batch of satellites (14 additional satellites to the 4 IOV satellites), the launch services, the needed mission and control ground infrastructure, the system support services and the corresponding operations. The 14 additional satellites are scheduled to be in orbit by mid-decade thus making a total of 18 satellites in orbit.

3. Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase:

   The FOC phase consists of the deployment of the full system which will consist of 30 satellites, control centres located in Europe and a network of sensor stations and uplink stations installed around the globe. Galileo's Full Operational Capability (FOC) should be achieved in 2019-2020, in a staggered approach from the IOC phase.

The definition phase and the development and In-Orbit Validation phase of the Galileo program is being carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and co-funded by ESA and the European Union. The Full Operational Capability phase of the Galileo program is fully funded by the European Union and managed by the European Commission. The Commission and ESA have signed a delegation agreement by which ESA acts as design and procurement agent on behalf of the Commission.

Galileo Evolutions

Galileo Clock (artistic interpretation)

The European Parliament and the Council have allocated the management of the Galileo programme to the European Commission. The European Commission is in the process of setting up a consultative group of GNSS experts called the Mission Evolution Advisory Group (MEAG). MEAG aims at providing EC with independent advice and recommendations on potential evolutions of the mission objectives and the service definitions for the European satellite navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS. The group is expected to critically assess changes of both user needs and scope of space-based PNT, both on European and international scale. Changes on the mission and service requirements for the Galileo and EGNOS programme will be analysed too, proposing suitable updates of the mission and service baseline. MEAG members include experts from GNSS user communities, GNSS industry sectors, academia, national space agencies and other recognized experts from Member States. The MEAG meets on a regular basis with an indicative number of three meetings per year. The expert group may establish on an ad-hoc basis Working Groups to provide specialist support as required to carry out its activities. The MEAG shall further record and report its work results and recommendations on a yearly basis to the Commission.

The Galileo Evolutions are currently under technical study within the European GNSS Evolution Programme (EGEP), an ESA optional programme supported by 17 Member States and Canada. Its primary aim is to undertake research and development in and verification of technologies relating to regional space-based augmentation systems (SBAS) and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Regarding Galileo, EGEP objectives are:

• define future system architectures for Galileo and prepare the technology for future versions of the system;
• provide testbeds and system tools;
• improve Agency knowledge of GNSS performance monitoring and the principal environmental factors influencing performance;
• promote and support scientific exploitation of Galileo.

In April 2013, the member states' Permanent Representatives (Coreper) endorsed the compromise reached between the Council and the European Parliament in their negotiations on a new financial and governance framework for the European satellite navigation systems (EGNOS and Galileo) for the period covered by the multi-annual financial framework for 2014-2020.

The draft regulation contains the following key elements based on a first proposal presented by the Commission in December 2011, excluding the financial envelope:

• A tentative budget of EUR 6.3 billion (at constant 2011 prices), to be fully financed from the EU budget.
• A definition of the EU satellite navigation systems and Programmes and of the services they will provide;
• A new governance framework that establishes a strict division of tasks between the Commission, the European GNSS Agency and the European Space Agency;
• Rules on public procurement, promoting the widest participation possible throughout the Union and ensuring fair competition conditions.

The first initial Galileo services (OS, PRS and S&R) are due to be available by 2014-2015. The system will be fully operational when all satellites are in place. This should be achieved in 2019/2020.

Galileo’s seventh and eighth satellites launched successfully in late March, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans four more satellites to reach orbit in 2015, and space maneuvers for Galileo 5 and 6 have been completed, with a recovery plan currently under study. ESA happily confirms that satellites 7 and 8 are in good position, under control, and behaving very well. . Both satellites started transmitting signals in late May, with the first E1 and E5 signals from Galileo 8 received on May 21 and the first E1 and E5 signals from Galileo 7 on May 25.
A further two Galileo satellites were launched successfully on September 11, 2015, raising the total number of satellites in the constellation to 10. Several stations participating in the International GNSS Service Multi-GNSS Experiment started tracking the new satellites on October 12th, 2015.
The 11th and 12th Galileo satellites were launched on December 17, 2015 and became operational in the end of April 2016 .
The total number of satellites in the constellation was increased to 14 on May 24, 2016, with the launch of two additional satellites from the French Guiana

On November 17th, 2016, the Galileo constellation was reinforced with another 4 satellites.

With this last launch, Galileo became operational for initial services on December 15th, 2016.