ESA awarded a contract to Swedish Space Corp. to provide a site for the northern telemetry, tracking and command antenna for the Galileo satellite navigation system at Esrange Space Center near Kiruna, Sweden. The 13-meter antenna will be one of two used during Galileo’s In Orbit Validation Phase and is a key part of the global infrastructure that will be used to operate the Galileo constellation.

The second antenna will be located in Kourou, French Guiana, near the equator.

SES Astra Techcom and partner Hitec Luxembourg will design, build and install the antennas, which are expected to be operational in late 2007.