Atomic clock woes lose partial redundancy on already launched Galileo sats and delay further flights

by | Jan 18, 2017 | ESA | 0 comments

It has been reported that some atomic clocks on the interim and full production satellites in the Galileo navigation satellite constellation have faults. According to spaceintelreport.com, 10 clocks of two different types (hydrogen maser and rubidium types) had been affected on four different satellites: five hydrogen maser clocks on the interim Galileo IOV satellites and two hydrogen maser clocks on the Galileo FOC satellites & three rubidium clocks on the fully operational Galileo FOC satellites.

According to the report by Peter de Selding, one satellite has lost two of four clocks (two of each type) carried with, only one being needed to operate. A further three have lost the remaining eight but one clock was repaired leaving seven failed clocks. All the satellites remain in full operation will all those affected only having a partial loss of redundancy (only one clock is needed to work). All the clocks (both designs), were built by the Swiss firm of SpectraTime. The mysterious failure mechanism has not been divulged save to note that it requires the rare occurrence of parameters moving in the same direction. The navigation satellites of India and China may also be affected.

Because of the fault, future launches of Galileo satellites have been delayed.

 

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

JUICE finally manages to get its radar antenna out but there is no joy for hobbled Lunar Flashlight

ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy-moon Explorer) mission, built by Airbus, which is planned to make detailed observations of Jupiter and its Read more

JUICE mission to Jupiter’s moons blasts off after initial delays…then it has a radar antenna deployment fault

After Flight VA260 was delayed by one day due to the weather, the Ariane 5 ECA+ rocket successfully launched the Read more

Italian government gives Vega C vote of confidence with a three-launch order for its IRIDE constellation

Arianespace has won a contract for up to three Vega C launches for IRIDE, the Italian government’s Earth observation constellation. Read more

What’s Next for Space Exploration in 2023 and Beyond

Much changed on Earth and in space during 2022. In July the James Webb Telescope, the largest optical telescope in Read more

Ariane 5 ECA+ launches three satellites from French Guiana: Galaxy-35 and -36, and MTG-I1

An Ariane 5 ECA+ rocket was launched from Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on 13 December at 2030 Read more

ESA Ministerial: budget increase saves former ExoMars rover “Rosalind Franklin” as ESA shows off its next astronauts including the first parastronaut

Despite a feeling that Europe has been “left behind” in the race between China and the US – especially by Read more

Euclid and Hera missions are bounced off their Soyuz and Ariane 6 launches to be rescued by SpaceX

Now that the European Space Agency (ESA) has accepted that the Ariane 6 will not launch before late 2023, with Read more

ISS gets Italian commander as Soyuz MS-21 leaves the space station and returns to Earth

The Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti took command of the International Space Station (ISS) from previous commander Oleg Artemiev on Read more

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochina25virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 5DGAevaaviation weekspacewalkaressoyuzIGTBeidouawardsInternational Space StationspaceBlue OriginSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonStarlinkCargo Return VehicleRocket LabresearchboeingmarsblogAirbus DSOneWeborionISROspaceshiptwoimpacthyperboladelayjaxamarsdemocratgoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamaEutelsatlaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresSESnorthspaceflightthales alenia spacenode 2fundedRaymond LygoIntelsat2009romeAtlas VExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2Elon MuskLockheed MartinaviationLucy2008wk2sstlukradiotestmissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationVirgin OrbitinternetAriane 5 ECAChina Manned Space EngineeringSLSsts-122missile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Ariane 5Express AMU 1spaceportbuildspace stationaltairNorthrop GrummanElectronshuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesIntelsat 23CosmosLauncherOneEuropean Space Agencyhanleybudgetrulesnew yorksoyuz 2-1aLong March 4CLong March 2D/2Ariane 6shenzhouatvspace shuttleVietnamcongressMojaveboldenInmarsatOrbital ATKnew shepardLong March 2CGuiana Space CenteriaccnesksclawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BprotonUS Air ForceILSApollodarpaTalulah RileydragonastronautusabasepicturelanderAstriumSkyloneuSSLVega Clunar landerfiveeventfalconSea LaunchWednesdayinterview50thSNCAprilKuaizhou 1ASpace InsuranceTelesat7linkatlantisLong MarchcustomersuccessorFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5