GIOVE-A

 2005-051A

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The 600 kg GSTB-v2/A testbed satellite for Galileo, under a contract let by ESA to SSTL. GIOVE is Galileo In-Orbit Validation Experiment.

Galileo will be the European global navigation satellite system.

The first satellite will be a 600 kg SSTL GEMINI (MOSAIC) bus launched by Starsem Soyuz to 23616 x 23616 x 56.0. Size is 1.3 x 1.8 x 1.7m with 11m? span.

Soyuz-FG No. Zh15000-015 with Fregat No. 1009.

Control from Chilbolton and RAL.

The MERLIN monitor gives proton flux, heavy ion spectrum, total dose, internal charging and surface charging. It is derived from the earlier CREDO (Cosmic Ray Effects and Dosimetry Experiment) and SURF (electrostatic charging monitor) experiments.

In Sep 2009, the satellite raised its orbit above the nominal constellation, but continued in operation. In 2012 the nav payload was switched off but the satellite continued to collect radiation data.

Giove A
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
2005 Dec 28	0519:08	Launch by Soyuz-FG	KB LC31-6
		T+1:58 Strapons sep
		T+4:13 Fairing sep
		T+4:46 Blok I MES
		T+4:47 Blok A sep
		T+4:57 KhO sep
	0527:56	T+8:48 Blok I sep	58? x 190 x 51.8
	0528:57	T+9:49 Fregat MES-1
	0529:17	T+10:09 Fregat MECO-1	220 x 220 x 51.8?
	0557:33	T+38:25 Fregat MES-2
	0602?	Blok-I reentry over Pacific
	0607:29	T+48:21 Fregat MECO-2	220 x 23600 x 56?
	0855:57	T+3:35:59 Fregat MES-3
	0859:08	T+3:40:00 Fregat MECO-3
	0901:39	T+3:42:00 Fregat sep	23011 x 23258 x 56.1
2007 Oct 19			846.12 23229 x 23281 x 56.0
2009 Sep 16			849.61 23307x 23365 x 56.1
2009 Oct		orbit raise to reserve orbit	849.64 23308 x 23366 x 56.1
2012 Jun 20			894.69 23314 x 23362 x 56.2
2012 Jun 21	1230?	Orbit raise
2012 Jun 30		Nav payload switched off
2012 Jul		SGR-GEO payload activated
2012 Jul 3			894.89 23321 x 23365 x 56.2
2012 Nov		Still operating SGR-GEO