Thales Alenia Space and the European Space Agency have signed a new tranche of the contract for the operational phase of the Galileo ground mission segment and security facility.
Thales Alenia Space, the joint company between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a new tranche of the framework contract originally signed on 18th October with the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of the European Commission and the European GNSS Agency (GSA), to develop and deploy new versions of the ground-based Galileo Mission Segment (GMS) and the Galileo Security Facility (GSF), both known under the designation “WP2X”.
The new tranche of this contract, worth about €130m through June 2021, will concern the following:
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completion of PRS (Public Regulated Service),
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adapting the ground segment to provide an interface, via computerised POCPs (Point of Contact Platforms), between the Galileo Security Monitoring Center (GSMC), which manages PRS access to the new system, and government entities which control access on their own receiving stations.
Thales Alenia Space will direct a consortium including companies in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. It will call on the Thales group for both prime contractor support and for the architecture and integration of security components and the POCPs, and on Leonardo for the Galileo Security Facility (GSF), which manages PRS service and the POCPs.
There are currently 26 Galileo satellites in orbit, 22 of which are Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites, including one pair initially placed in incorrect orbit. The full operational constellation will comprise 30 satellites, including six spares. Full operational capability is currently targeted for 2020.