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- 01-26-2011
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Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out - Galileo!
http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/head-em-up-move-em-out-galileo-10984?utm_source=GPS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GNSS-Design_01_26_2011&utm_content=head-em-up-move-em-out-galileo-10984
January 26, 2011 By: Alan Cameron
It’s a long, hard, dusty cattle drive, podners, across a hostile
landscape infested with rattlers, rustlers, and budget cutters, to get a
satellite system mounted and orbiting. But Galileo has got its wagon
packed and horses saddled. While its doubters have not diminished either
in numbers or vociferousness, the herd is on the move.
Perhaps our international readers may be mystified by this story’s
headline. If I could cue the “Rawhide” theme music, they might catch the
allusion. Just envision EC satnav program head Paul Verhoef as the Clint
Eastwood character Rowdy Yates, slouched low in the saddle, his hat brim
pulled down, surveying with steely gaze the satellites moving slowly
across the plains — in this case, the manufacturing production line that
leads them to the trailhead at Kourou, French Guiana, from whence they
launch into space in 2011 and 2012.
The first of the in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites is now going
through launch-readiness testing at the European Space Agency’s
technical center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Four identical Galileo
IOV satellites are in preparation. The first to be completed has been
selected for qualification testing, as the Protoflight Model (PFM).
Satellite payloads were designed, developed, and assembled by EADS
Astrium in Portsmouth, UK, with the overall satellite designed and
developed by Astrium in Ottobrunn, Germany and assembled by Thales
Alenia Space in Rome, Italy.
The PFM will endure simulated launch vibrations on an electrodynamic
shaker, followed by sudden shocks simulating those during separation
from the launch vehicle. Finally, it will take an acoustic battering
matching the launcher’s sound pressure and frequency. The Galileo IOV
satellites will be launched two at a time; a dispenser will hold them
together within the launcher fairing and eventually release them in
orbit. Pyrotechnic devices will shoot them safely away from the
dispenser and each other.
Once ESTEC testing is complete in February, the PFM will be reunited
with the rest of the IOV quartet in Italy for a follow-up round of
thermal vacuum testing, to prove that they can withstand the temperature
extremes of space. Finally, the satellites will travel to Europe’s
spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in South America, to be launched on
Russian Soyuz rockets operated by the French company Arianespace.
Vote of Confience. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) presented its
mid-term review on the development of Galileo, and the European
Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), and despite some
downbeat notes, overall the report delivers the strongest support the EC
has yet lent to the project. The Commission could actually be described
as happy with progress to date, and says it will complete the full
30-spacecraft constellation — even though costs have yet again risen.
The administrative body for the European government issued one of its
strongest statement yet as to the value of the satnav systems, however.
“The ultimate objectives are not being called into question.” EC
Vice-President Antonio Tajani added, “We are satisfied with the progress
made so far and committed to bringing this project to fruition.”
The report reiterates previous statements that Galileo will deliver
initial services in 2014, or perhaps 2015. Full operations are forecast
for 2020, but hold onto your Stetsons, tornadoes may still blow through
both production and funding schedules.
In one of its most interesting findings, the report also estimates that
6–7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of developed countries
in Europe, an amount that equals €800 billion ($1 trillion U.S.),
depends on satellite navigation; that is, on GPS, for the time being.
Costs Rising. An EC message to the European Parliament and European
Council both bodies on notice that reaching full operational capability
for Galileo will cost €1.9 billion more than the €3.4 billion already
allocated. Further, the EC foresees an average annual expense of €800
million to operate Galileo and EGNOS. No one doubts that the EC will
find it extremely challenging to secure that added funding within its
next budget cycle (2014-20).
Getting extra payments out of member states will call for several
strokes of genius, perhaps in the form of special financial instruments.
Further, the report admits that even further cost increases and schedule
delays just might happen, due to complexities inherent in the Public
Regulated Service security signal, ground infrastructure, signal
compatibility and/or interoperability with GPS, and finally the issue
that everyone likes to raise but no one will do anything about: liability.
No wonder that Belgian cowboy has steely eyes.
There appears little hope that Galileo will recoup more than token
expenses through the commercial and Public Regulated services; combined
revenue from the two “could rise steadily, to reach an average of around
70 million euros, in the long term” — less than one-tenth of the annual
operating cost.
The next budget cycle begins in 2014, meaning there will be at least a
four-year delay in the deployment of the full Galileo system. The
consequent delay between the first round of satellite orders and the
second round in the next budget cycle will force up industry prices,
said Francois Auque, chief executive of Astrium.
The gloomy but firm-jawed financial forecasts brought the naysayers out
of the woods again, led by London’s Financial Times: “Galileo plan lacks
compelling logic.” The paper resurrected the old argument of why pay
for Galileo when GPS is free, and pointed the finger at the French,
whose military, with the most strategic guided weapons, would feel more
secure with control over its own global satellite navigation system.
http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/head-em-up-move-em-out-galileo-10984?utm_source=GPS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GNSS-Design_01_26_2011&utm_content=head-em-up-move-em-out-galileo-10984
January 26, 2011 By: Alan Cameron
It’s a long, hard, dusty cattle drive, podners, across a hostile
landscape infested with rattlers, rustlers, and budget cutters, to get a
satellite system mounted and orbiting. But Galileo has got its wagon
packed and horses saddled. While its doubters have not diminished either
in numbers or vociferousness, the herd is on the move.
Perhaps our international readers may be mystified by this story’s
headline. If I could cue the “Rawhide” theme music, they might catch the
allusion. Just envision EC satnav program head Paul Verhoef as the Clint
Eastwood character Rowdy Yates, slouched low in the saddle, his hat brim
pulled down, surveying with steely gaze the satellites moving slowly
across the plains — in this case, the manufacturing production line that
leads them to the trailhead at Kourou, French Guiana, from whence they
launch into space in 2011 and 2012.
The first of the in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites is now going
through launch-readiness testing at the European Space Agency’s
technical center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Four identical Galileo
IOV satellites are in preparation. The first to be completed has been
selected for qualification testing, as the Protoflight Model (PFM).
Satellite payloads were designed, developed, and assembled by EADS
Astrium in Portsmouth, UK, with the overall satellite designed and
developed by Astrium in Ottobrunn, Germany and assembled by Thales
Alenia Space in Rome, Italy.
The PFM will endure simulated launch vibrations on an electrodynamic
shaker, followed by sudden shocks simulating those during separation
from the launch vehicle. Finally, it will take an acoustic battering
matching the launcher’s sound pressure and frequency. The Galileo IOV
satellites will be launched two at a time; a dispenser will hold them
together within the launcher fairing and eventually release them in
orbit. Pyrotechnic devices will shoot them safely away from the
dispenser and each other.
Once ESTEC testing is complete in February, the PFM will be reunited
with the rest of the IOV quartet in Italy for a follow-up round of
thermal vacuum testing, to prove that they can withstand the temperature
extremes of space. Finally, the satellites will travel to Europe’s
spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in South America, to be launched on
Russian Soyuz rockets operated by the French company Arianespace.
Vote of Confience. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) presented its
mid-term review on the development of Galileo, and the European
Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), and despite some
downbeat notes, overall the report delivers the strongest support the EC
has yet lent to the project. The Commission could actually be described
as happy with progress to date, and says it will complete the full
30-spacecraft constellation — even though costs have yet again risen.
The administrative body for the European government issued one of its
strongest statement yet as to the value of the satnav systems, however.
“The ultimate objectives are not being called into question.” EC
Vice-President Antonio Tajani added, “We are satisfied with the progress
made so far and committed to bringing this project to fruition.”
The report reiterates previous statements that Galileo will deliver
initial services in 2014, or perhaps 2015. Full operations are forecast
for 2020, but hold onto your Stetsons, tornadoes may still blow through
both production and funding schedules.
In one of its most interesting findings, the report also estimates that
6–7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of developed countries
in Europe, an amount that equals €800 billion ($1 trillion U.S.),
depends on satellite navigation; that is, on GPS, for the time being.
Costs Rising. An EC message to the European Parliament and European
Council both bodies on notice that reaching full operational capability
for Galileo will cost €1.9 billion more than the €3.4 billion already
allocated. Further, the EC foresees an average annual expense of €800
million to operate Galileo and EGNOS. No one doubts that the EC will
find it extremely challenging to secure that added funding within its
next budget cycle (2014-20).
Getting extra payments out of member states will call for several
strokes of genius, perhaps in the form of special financial instruments.
Further, the report admits that even further cost increases and schedule
delays just might happen, due to complexities inherent in the Public
Regulated Service security signal, ground infrastructure, signal
compatibility and/or interoperability with GPS, and finally the issue
that everyone likes to raise but no one will do anything about: liability.
No wonder that Belgian cowboy has steely eyes.
There appears little hope that Galileo will recoup more than token
expenses through the commercial and Public Regulated services; combined
revenue from the two “could rise steadily, to reach an average of around
70 million euros, in the long term” — less than one-tenth of the annual
operating cost.
The next budget cycle begins in 2014, meaning there will be at least a
four-year delay in the deployment of the full Galileo system. The
consequent delay between the first round of satellite orders and the
second round in the next budget cycle will force up industry prices,
said Francois Auque, chief executive of Astrium.
The gloomy but firm-jawed financial forecasts brought the naysayers out
of the woods again, led by London’s Financial Times: “Galileo plan lacks
compelling logic.” The paper resurrected the old argument of why pay
for Galileo when GPS is free, and pointed the finger at the French,
whose military, with the most strategic guided weapons, would feel more
secure with control over its own global satellite navigation system.
