Launch of Galileo satellites 13/14
The latest satellites in Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system will be launched together on 24 May.
Galileos 13 and 14 are scheduled to lift off at 08:48:43 GMT (05:48:43 local time, 10:48:43 CEST) on 24 May from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop a Soyuz launcher. They are expected to become operational, after initial in-orbit testing, later in the year.
Further Galileo satellites are currently taking shape: their payloads are being built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in Guildford, UK, while their platforms and overall integration are the responsibility of OHB in Bremen, Germany. The satellites are exhaustively tested at ESA’s ESTEC centre in the Netherlands before being transported across the Atlantic to Europe’s Spaceport.
This will be the seventh Galileo launch, set to bring the number of satellites in space up to 14. Four more Galileo satellites are planned to take flight in the autumn, launched for the first time on a customised Ariane 5 to bring the total number of satellites in the constellation to 18.
