Galileo Soyuz launch: Latest from Kourou

Date: Thu, Mar 26, 2015 | 16:30 - 17:00 GMT | 17:30 - 18:00 CET

Type: ESA TV News

Format: 16:9

Another pair of  satellites for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system will be launched on 27 March as deployment of the 30-satellite network continues to ramp up.

Galileo Sat 7 & 8 will be on top of a Soyuz rocket, scheduled for lift off at 21:46 GMT (22:46 CET, 18:46 local time) this Friday from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

This launch was initially set for late last year but was suspended pending investigation of an anomaly in the Soyuz’ upper stage that left Galileo 5 & 6 stranded in an incorrect, lower orbit. The origin of the anomaly, a freezing of the hydrazine propellant line, has been corrected, allowing deployment to resume.

Galileo 5 was moved to a higher, functional orbit in November, and later passed its in-orbit testing. The orbit of Galileo 6 was raised earlier this month, and the satellite is currently undergoing its testing. The decision whether ultimately to use Galileo 5 & 6 in the constellation lies with the European Commission, as system owner.

Now with the launch of two more satellites Galileo is back into the deployment phase.

This feed includes latest images of the preparation in Kourou of Galileo Sat 7 & 8 and their Soyuz launcher with interviews of Didier Faivre, Director of Navigation programmes, ESA (in English and French) and Javier Benedicto, Galileo Programme Manager, ESA (in English, Spanish and French).

It will then be downloadable from ESA TV FTP : tvdownload.esa.int (Login esa Password ftp4esa)

and from EBU Worldlink.

More information at: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/The_future_-_Galileo/What_is_Galileo

Satellite Parameters:

EUTELSAT 7B @ 7 deg East TXP B1 SLOT 1K (6MHz) 
 DOWNLINK FR: 11006.5 MHz POL X/horizontal
 SR: 4.9373Ms/s FEC: 3/4 Mod: DVBS2/8PSK Pilot: on Roll-off: 0.20
 SIGNAL: HD 16:9 1080i/50 MPEG4(H264) 4:2:0 DR:10.7514 Mbps
 AUDIO:1 mono Eng
AUDIO:2 mono Fr

For any queries concerning satellite or ftp please contact the ESA TV producers Dominique Detain: Dominique.detain@esa.int or +33 685 114 681 or Chris Courtenay Taylor: chrisct@worldwidepictures.tv or +44 7774 275 951.