As the first of two additional Galileo satellites designated for launch next week prep for their lift off, testing has concluded on the Galileo satellites already in orbit. The first encrypted signals were received and tracked successfully during a 10-day testing period. The goal of the tests, Spatial Source reported, was to verify the functionality of the Galileo Commercial Service (CS) signal’s encryption functionalities.
“Although there are still many steps before the delivery of an operational CS, these first tests prove what Galileo can do in the near future,” said European Commission Project Officer Ignacio Fernández Hernández.
Created by the European Space Agency, Galileo will be the first commercially-controlled satellite navigation constellation and promises much higher accuracy than its U.S., Chinese and Russian competitors. Part of the Galileo system, the Initial Operating Capacity, should be operational in the next few years. Galileo should have CS capability next year while Full Operational Capability is expected in 2019 or 2020.
