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Systemet vil bli operativt om et års tid. (Red.)

Ariane 5 Reaches its 99th Mission with Latest Galileo Launch

By Annamarie Nyirady | July 25, 2018

• EuropeLaunch

The Ariane 5 rocket’s 99th launch, adding four more satellites in the Galileo constellation. Photo: Arianespace

Arianespace successfully launched four more satellites in the Galileo constellation. The launch happened today at 8:25 a.m. GMT-3 from the Guiana Space Center.

Today’s launch was the 99th mission by the Ariane 5 heavy launcher. It was carried out on behalf of the European Commission as part of a contract with the European Space Agency(ESA). It also was the last in a series of three launches for Galileo using the version of Ariane 5 with a storable propellant upper stage (ES). Two additional missions to deploy four more satellites have been assigned to the A62 version of the upcoming Ariane 6 launch vehicle.

Fra Wikipedia: 
The first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A, was launched 28 December 2005, while the first satellite to be part of the operational system was launched on 21 October 2011. As of December 2017, 22 of the planned 30 active satellites are in orbit. The next launch, which will bring the system to operational completion, is planned in mid 2018.^[10] Galileo started offering Early Operational Capability (EOC) on 15 December 2016^[1], providing initial services with a weak signal, and is expected to reach Full Operational Capability (FOC) in 2019.^[11] The complete 30-satellite Galileo system (24 operational and 6 active spares) is expected by 2020.^[12]