The first of the Batch 3 ‘contract navigation payloads’ for the European Satellite Navigation System Galileo was delivered at the beginning of June to OHB System AG in Bremen by SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd).

Selected as the industrial prime contractor for the space segment of the project by ESA (on behalf of the European Commission), OHB System will deliver another 12 satellites for Galileo.

The ‘payload ’will be integrated into its destined satellite platform, Galileo FOC FM23, which has been named ‘Patrick’ (after the winner of an art competition).

This will be followed by a series of comprehensive test activities. ‘Patrick’ and another satellite in this series are scheduled to be ready for launch in autumn 2020.

Sophie Bywater, SSTL’s Galileo programme manager, said (www.sstl.co.uk): “A total of 12 navigation payloads are being manufactured by SSTL under the Batch 3 contract, with the next shipment due in July.

SSTL is responsible for the design and construction of the navigation payloads — based on European-sourced atomic clocks — navigation signal generators and high-power travelling wave tube amplifiers”.

Since 2010, the OHB-SSTL partnership has been awarded three contracts, involving a total of 34 satellites for Europe’s global positioning satellite service.