Galileo SME

With a quartet of Galileo satellites in space and the second two undergoing in-orbit testing, Europe’s own satnav programme is nearing the time when the first navigation fixes can be tried out.

It has taken the combined knowledge, capabilities and skill of companies both large and small from across our continent to reach this point.

Spain’s Mier Comunicaciones small-medium-sized enterprise (SME) has contributed two key items to the latest twin satellites, launched on 12 October 2012: a new search and rescue transponder to pick up emergency distress calls from the ground or sea, and the Mission Receiver vital to maintaining Galileo’s positioning accuracy by picking up terrestrial correction messages.