Update: Work on Galileo Satellites Continues

Work at ESA’s ESOC control centre continues relentlessly on the two Galileo satellites. Despite the non-nominal orbit, the satellites are safely under control after they were released from the launcher upper stage and their orbital position was determined by the European ground teams deployed at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany.

Controllers there, in cooperation with the satellite manufacturer OHB, confirm the good health and the nominal behaviour of both satellites. A procedure to deploy the solar arrays that had remained folded on both satellites was successfully executed on the first satellite in the course of Monday night. A similar procedure will be executed soon on the second satellite.

Both satellites continue to be kept in a safe state, correctly pointing to the Sun, properly powered and fully under control of the ESA/CNES integrated team and the teams of OHB deployed at ESA’s control centre.

In parallel, the teams are investigating the possibilities to exploit the satellites to their best despite the non-nominal injection orbit and within the limited propulsion capabilities of the satellites.  

Fore more information on the launch of the Galileo satellites see our previous news release.