New Giove-B Satellite Transmits Galileo Signal On May 7, 2008, Europe's Galileo program Giove-B satellite began to emit navigation signals, including the common GPS-Galileo MBOC (multiplexed binary offset carrier) civil signal.
The Giove-B satellite, which was jointly built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU), was launched on April 27 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Giove-B is now orbiting at an altitude of 23,173 kilometers, making a complete journey around the Earth every 14 hours and 3 minutes.
“Now with Giove-B broadcasting its highly accurate signal in space, we have a true representation of what Galileo will offer to provide the most advanced satellite positioning services, while ensuring compatibility and interoperability with GPS,” said ESA’s Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.
The MBOC signal transmitted by Giove-B will not only vastly increase positioning accuracy in all environments, but will also provide an improved signal for indoor navigation.
The quality of the signals is currently being analyzed by several facilities, including the Giove-B Control Centre at Telespazio’s facilities in Fucino, Italy, the Galileo Processing Centre at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in the Netherlands, as well as the ESA ground station at Redu, Belgium, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Chilbolton Observatory in the United Kingdom.
The Giove-B signal will allow Galileo teams both in ESA and industry to observe and record the spectrum of transmission in real time. This includes various fundamental measurements for future applications that are related to transmitted signal power, center frequency and bandwidth, as well as the format of the navigation signals generated on board.
