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Spaceopal Completes Performance Tests on First Two Galileo Satellites

By Jeffrey Hill | April 3, 2012

      [Satellite TODAY 04-03-12] Spaceopal, a joint venture between Telespazio and German Space Agency company DLR-GfR, has completed performance verification tests on the first two Galileo satellites of the European constellation at its Fucino Space Center, the companies announced April 2.

         Spaceopal received and validated the functionality of encrypted signals that aim to enable Galileo’s public-regulated services to be provided to government agencies, security organizations and civil protection agencies. The tests supplement other tests that were recently carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Redu, Belgium.
         The current in-orbit validation (IOV) phase of the Galileo program will be completed with the launch of the next two satellites, which will continue the testing campaign to validate the system’s performance and test future navigation and localization.
         The operational phase that follows the launch of the remaining satellites of the constellation will lead to the completion of the system, in which the Fucino Space Center will manage activities relating to the Galileo mission. These involve generating and transmitting the onboard navigation message, subsequently supplying navigation services to users, monitoring the quality of service and managing the system’s ground segment.
         The Galileo program was jointly developed by the European Union and ESA. The definition and development phase and IOV phase of the Galileo program were co-funded with the European Commission.