Photo: ESA

The next two full operational capability (FOC) satellites in the Galileo constellation are being prepared for launch next week. As reported by GPS World and by Inside GNSS, the two satellites are scheduled for launch on 10 Sept at 11:08pm (local time) from the European Spaceport in French Guiana (02:08 GMT on 11 Sept). Although earlier generation satellites are already in orbit, the two to be launched next week are the fifth and sixth FOC satellites in what is planned to be a 30 satellite constellation. Two more FOC satellites are scheduled to be launched before the end of the year.

Inside GNSS also reports that the 11th GPS Block IIF satellite is scheduled for launch on 30 October from Cape Canaveral. The IIF satellites broadcast the third civilian signal/frequency (L5) in addition to the legacy C/A code (L1 only), P(Y) code (L1 and L2), the military code (M-code; L1 and L2), and the civil code on L2 (L2C).

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About the Author

Michael Braasch is the Thomas Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University (OU), a Principal Investigator with the Avionics Engineering Center (also at OU) and is the co-founder of GPSoft LLC (a software company specializing in navigation-related toolboxes for MATLAB). He has been conducting aircraft navigation research for 30 years and is an internationally recognized expert in GPS and inertial navigation.