Galileo update

Second call of H2020- Galileo now open

The second Horizon 2020 (H2020) call for Applications in Satellite Navigation, managed by the European GNSS Agency, is offcially open. With a budget of EUR 25 million for the 2015 call, the deadline for submitting proposals is 8 April 2015.

To accelerate EU space policy, the H2020 call focuses on growth and impact across all market segments, including transport (road, rail, maritime, aviation), high precision surveying, location based services (LBS), agriculture and emergency services. Priority is also placed on raising productivity and competitiveness while reducing adverse environmental impact.

Horizon 2020, as the biggest EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation, targets the development of new space enabled applications in different focus areas such as health, citizen safety, mobility, smart cities, sustainable resources monitoring and management, regional growth, lowcarbon energy infrastructure planning and protection, and disaster management and climate control, including natural catastrophes. www.gsa.europa.eu

Spoof-proof Galileo receiver wins satnav award

An innovative and cost-effective Galileo signal receiver designed to simplify the use and speed-up uptake of Galileo navigation services has won the European satnav Oscar.

Developed by Airbus engineers, the receiver offers considerably higher levels of security and reliability than GPS while using a comparatively simple system architecture.

Instead of having a Security Module integrated into every individual enduser receiver, the concept – developed by Kogler and his colleague Jan Wendel – relies on complex assistance servers and secure communications links.

The assistance server, equipped with a complete PRS receiver with a Security Module, receives the satellite data and transmits them to the users via the secure links. The end-user receivers thus don’t need to be equipped with the Security Modules while maintaining the exact same level of security as the primary receivers. http://eandt.theiet.org/

ESA will attempt to improve orbits of errant Galileo satellites

The European Space Agency announced plans (November 10, 2014) to implement a series of maneuvers to reposition one of two Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellites left in the wrong orbit this summer, as a prelude to its health being confrmed. The aim is to raise the lowest point of the satellite’s orbit — its perigee — to reduce the radiation exposure from the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth, as well as to put it into a more useful orbit for navigation purposes.

Should the two-week operation prove successful, then the sixth Galileo satellite will follow the same route. The Galileo pair, launched together on a Soyuz rocket on 22 August, ended up in an elongated orbit travelling out to to its apogee