European Space Agency member states have given the go-ahead to start work on the space segment of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme. ESA has released €30 million ($37 million) for definition studies for the five "sentinels" that will be the backbone of the future European Earth observation system.
GMES is a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, similar in conception to the joint EC/ESA-funded Galileo navigation-satellite system now under development. The total of €80 million released by ESA will also fund further definition of the services to be provided by GMES, paving the way for a ministerial decision in late 2005 or early 2006 on full implementation of the system.
Meanwhile, a structural model of the first of two experimental Galileo navigation satellites is being tested at ESA's ESTEC centre. The first Galileo testbed, the 600kg (1,300lb) GSTB-V2-A, is being built by the UK's Surrey Satellite. A second experimental satellite, the 523kg GTSB-V2-B, is being built by Galileo Industries, the European consortium that will produce the operational spacecraft.
Both testbeds will be launched aboard Soyuz boosters from Baikonur into medium-Earth orbits. The first launch is planned before the end of 2005. One of the testbeds must be in orbit by June 2006 to secure signal frequencies allocated to Galileo by the International Telecommunications Union. The next step will be the launch of a four-satellite mini-constellation.
Source: Flight International
