The Galileo FOC* satellites No. 5 (Alba) and No. 6 (Oriana) designed and built by OHB System AG for the European Navigation System, Galileo, have arrived safe and sound at the launch site in Kourou (French Guiana). Launch of the two satellites is scheduled for September 10, 2015. OHB System is industrial prime for the European Space Agency ESA for every one of the 22 Galileo FOC satellites.
Before their departure, the two new arrivals were subjected to a series of tests, first in the company’s clean-room facility in Bremen and finally in ESA’s testing facility in the Dutch town of Noordwijk. „We have proven that both of our satellites will be able to withstand the anticipated loads arising during launch and during transfer to their target orbit and cope with the harsh conditions existing in space on a long-term basis. Both satellites have completed their mechanical fit check at the launch site. For this fit check each satellite was trial-mounted to its rocket interface. In the upcoming weeks we shall conduct a series of functional tests; fuelling will be done at the very end“, explains OHB Navigation Director Dr. Wolfgang Paetsch.
„Four satellites from OHB are already in space and have demonstrated their func-tional capabilities and their full performance“, reports Dr. Ingo Engeln, member of OHB System AG’s Management Board. “And we are well within schedule for the rest of the satellites. In Bremen we are working at up to seven manufacturing stations in parallel during the production of the modularly structured satellites. In this way we can build two satellites in the course of three months“.
Each of the Galileo satellites is named after one of the children who won the painting competition organized by the European Commission in 2011. At the production stations in the large OHB clean-room in Bremen there is a plaque emblazoned with the name of the satellite which is currently under construction.
Source / Author: OHB
Photo: ©2015 ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE