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Legal Committee, Allied Kommandatura, Berlin Higher Executive Authority, Spandau Prison, Berlin, circa 1966.
A selection of images from the 'Long Night of the Stars', ESOC's 50th anniversary open house, on Friday, 8 September 2017. Credit: ESA/J.Mai
ESA's operations centre in Darmstadt: The #Sentinel5P mission control team conducts another 'sim' training session, getting ready to handle any contingency when Europe's next Copernicus mission goes into orbit next month. Image credit: ESA/ Petr Shlyaev
Ariane flight VA224 liftoff with MSG-4 on board as seen by ESA's Mission Control Team in Main Control Room at ESOC. Image Credit: ESA/L. Guilpain - CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
A selection of images from the 'Long Night of the Stars', ESOC's 50th anniversary open house, on Friday, 8 September 2017. Credit: ESA/J.Mai
A selection of images from the 'Long Night of the Stars', ESOC's 50th anniversary open house, on Friday, 8 September 2017. Credit: ESA/J.Mai
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer trains on European experiments to be conducted on the International Space Station at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
ID: DSCN0775
Credit: ESA-C.Diener
ESA astronauts Matthias Maurer and Thomas Pesquet train on European experiments to be conducted on the International Space Station with trainer Laura André-Boyet at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
ID: DSCN0405
Credit: ESA-C.Diener
Satellite navigation has become part of our daily life. Beyond the transport sector where it enhances safety, efficiency and comfort, it is used in very different areas such as agriculture, rescue operations networks management and banking.
In the early 1990s ESA initiated research and development programmes in cooperation with the European Commission and the Civil Aviation community, leading to:
EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. Operational since 2011, EGNOS improves the performance of GPS and provides vertical guidance for aviation facilitating, for example, landing in small airports.
Two test-satellites GIOVE-A and B. These have prepared the way for a full Galileo constellation, and demonstrated key technologies in a very specific orbit and environment.
The first two operational satellites for Galileo, launched in 2011. Two more will join them in 2012 for a complete In-Orbit Validation and Qualification of the Galileo design.
The fully deployed system will consist of 30 satellites circling Earth at an altitude of 23,000 km and will be operated by a worldwide network of ground stations.
Galileo will be Europe’s own global satellite navigation system, compatible and interoperable with the existing American GPS and Russian GLONASS military-controlled systems.
Credits: ESA
Screengrabs from ESA's dramatisation movie, "The Burn." In the near future, it’s just another day of routine operations at ESA’s Mission Control - or is it? Discover what happens when a critical spacecraft emergency pushes our expert teams to their limits #MakeTheBurn www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM-bqXTKoU
Credit: ESA