Four new Galileo satellites

On July 25, ESA successfully launches Galileo satellites 23 at and 26 with an Ariane 5 rocket. About three and a half hours after the launch of the afternoon, the first satellites, weighing each 715 kg, were separated from the rocket; the second pair followed twenty minutes later. This was happening at an altitude of 22 922 km above the surface of the Earth

In the coming days, the satellites will be sent by the French space agency CNES, after which a trial period six months will take place before they are put into service. With the launch of these four satellites, phase 2 of the Galileo navigation network deployment will come to an end, according to Paul Verhoef, Director of ESA Navigation, at the launch. "But our pace is not slowing down: Twelve more Galileo & Batch 3 satellites are being prepared as Earth-orbiting satellites replacing the oldest Galileo satellites, launched in 2011. , for the system to function perfectly in the future

For the period 2025, ESA has already planned a new generation of Galileo satellites, which must still function better and have additional functions. [19659006] The Galileo satellite navigation network is the European response to the American GPS network and Russian GLONASS.