GSA Kicks Off EGNOS GEO Transponder Service Contracts
On November 25, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) kicked off the contracts for two new EGNOS GEO transponder services provided by SES.
The kick-off was done with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EGNOS service provider ESSP. Initially awarded and signed by the European Commission, in line with a new delegation agreement between the commission and the GSA, responsibility for the oversight of the contracts has been assigned to ESA.
The contracts regard the provision of signals from two EGNOS transponders embarked on-board the SES-5 and ASTRA-5B geostationary satellites, both operated by Luxembourg-based SES. The ground-based signals are generated via redundant uplink stations located in Betzdorf, Luxembourg and Redu, Belgium.
The signals include the navigation messages computed by the EGNOS Mission Control Centers. Both satellites are capable of transmitting dual-frequency signals compliant with GPS L1/L5 and Galileo E1/E5 signal specifications. The signals will be introduced into the EGNOS service provision (L1-only signals) between 2015 and 2016.
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