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An Ariane 5 rocket today launched four European navigation satellites in orbit (25 July), bringing to 26 the total number of satellites in the European Galileo navigation system.
The two-stage rocket, built by European launcher Arianespace, took off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:25 am EDT (11:25 GMT, 8:25 am local time).
A few minutes later, the two solid boosters of the rocket separated and fell into the Pacific Ocean off the Peruvian coast, and the payload fairing detached from the second phase of the rocket. [The Most Exciting Space Missions to Watch in 2018]
An Ariane 5 rocket carrying four Galileo satellites takes off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, July 25, 2018. Credit: Arianespace
After separation from the base floor of the rocket, the second-stage engines ignite, starting a 3-hour coast in medium Earth orbit , where the satellites will be deployed at an altitude of 14,243 miles (22,922 kilometers). The first two Galileo satellites are expected to deploy at 11:01 am EDT (1501 GMT), and the next two will follow 20 minutes later.
These four satellites will join the 22 satellites Galileo already in orbit. The Galileo constellation, which will eventually include 30 satellites, has provided Europe with a high-precision navigation system – similar to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) – since it entered service in 2017.
With its own GPS Europe ends its dependence on Russian navigation system GLONASS and Navstar GPS satellites from the US Air Force, said Space Agency officials in a statement. Unlike these networks, Europe's independent system is designed and operated by civilians. Its low-precision navigation services are free for all, and private companies can acquire higher precision capabilities.
Today 's mission was the third and final time that an Ariane 5 rocket was used to launch the Galileo satellites. With the next launch in 2020, the new Ariane 6 rocket will take over and start launching Galileo satellite pairs. The Ariane 6 rocket will replace Ariane 5, and the Ariane 5 ES configuration of the rocket that flew today has been officially removed.
"The A62 version of Ariane 6 will take over, with two launches used to orbit four more satellites during a time period between December 2020 and June 2021," according to Arianespace's description of the launch of "Ariane". Today
Arianespace launched all Galileo satellites currently in orbit, starting with the first test satellite launched in 2005. Before launching them in Ariane 5 in 2016, Arianespace Soyuz rockets launched the first Galileo satellites in orbit 19659002] Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience . Follow us on @Spacedotcom Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com .
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