Launch News Ariane 5 VA244 - Galileo-FOC FM019, 20, 21&22 - 25 July 2018

[Nicholas Kang]

Live broadcast:

Launch Kit is available here.

For its fourth launch of the year, Arianespace will orbit four more satellites (satellites 23 to 26) for the Galileo constellation. This mission is being performed on behalf of the European Commission under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).
For the third time, an Ariane 5 ES version will be used to orbit satellites in Europe’s own satellite navigation system; with all Galileo spacecraft having been launched to date by Arianespace. Ariane 6 will take over from 2020.

Galileo FOC-M8

Galileo is Europe’s own global navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. Currently providing Initial Services, Galileo is interoperable with GPS and Glonass, the U.S. and Russian global satellite navigation systems. By offering dual frequencies as standard, Galileo is set to deliver real-time positioning accuracy down to the meter range.
The constellation will count 24 operational satellites plus in-orbit spares, of which 22 already have been put into orbit by Arianespace.
In July 2017, ESA officially transferred the supervision of Galileo in-orbit operations to the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA), on behalf of the European Union.
After the VA244 launch, the GSA will be responsible for operating the satellites as soon as they are separated from the launcher. These operations of setting up and operating the system will be done in collaboration with ESA.

Souce: Arianespace Official Webpage