Orolia wins 70M euros in atomic clock contracts for Galileo

Orolia has been awarded 70 million euros in two contracts to provide atomic clocks for the first 12 satellites of the Galileo Second Generation System (G2S). The first was from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the second from Leonardo. Each of the new G2S satellites, designed to provide unprecedented accuracy worldwide, will contain three Orolia Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standards (RAFS) and two Orolia atomic clock physics packages integrated with Leonardo’s Passive Hydrogen Masers (PHM).

Orolia’s RAFS is a state-of-the-art ultra-stable rubidium atomic clock able to deliver a frequency stability of about 2×10^-14 over averaging intervals of 10,000 seconds. The Leonardo PHM, with its excellent frequency stability performance, is the master clock for the Galileo satellite payload. The maser technology embedded on Galileo offers superior stability to all other types of clocks onboard navigation satellites.

Orolia has delivered more than 140 RAFS Flight Models worldwide, with 114 flying on GNSS constellations. In addition, 100 PHM Flight Models have been delivered worldwide, and 56 are flying on the current Galileo constellation.

According to ESA, the G2S satellites will revolutionize the Galileo constellation, joining the 26 first-generation satellites currently in orbit.They will be much larger than the existing Galileo satellites, use electric propulsion for the first time and feature a more powerful navigation antenna. The G2S constellation should achieve a decimeter-scale positioning precision.