The European Commission (DG GROW) has published a contract notice for procurement of Galileo transition satellites.
The European Commission has published a contract notice for procurement of Galileo transition satellites. Tenders or requests to participate are to be submitted by 20th June.
The contracting authority, the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), wishes to procure new Galileo transition satellites with evolved specifications to ensure the continuity of the Galileo constellation in 2025-2026 and initiate the transition from the 1st generation to the 2nd generation of Galileo satellites.
The contract notice indicates that four satellites will be ordered as baseline, with options for additional satellites.
A total of 22 first-generation Galileo satellites have been deployed to date, including in-orbit validation units. The last batch of four was launched in December.
They will ultimately be joined by a further 16 satellites, half of which have already secured launch berths — Galileo 23-26 on an Ariane 5 ES on 25th July, Galileo 27 and 28 on an Ariane 62 in 2020, and Galileo 29 and 30 on the same launcher in 2021.