” The objective, if successful, the 2 new Galileo satellites will grow the European global satellite navigation satellite to 28 satellites. The nearly six-year-old constellation serves 2.3 billion users around the world, Arianespace stated in launch documentation.Related: How rockets work: A complete guideAn Arianespace Soyuz rocket carrying 2 new Galileo navigation satellites launches into orbit from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Dec. 4, 2021. (Image credit: Arianespace) The 26 Galileo satellites now in orbit were launched both by Soyuz rockets and by the businesss own heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 5.
An Arianespace Soyuz rocket released into the nighttime sky over French Guiana late Saturday (Dec. 4) to provide two brand-new satellites into orbit for Europes Galileo navigation system. The Soyuz rocket raised off at 7:19 p.m. EST (0019 GMT) from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, lighting up the night sky with orange flames as it skyrocketed into orbit with the new Galileo navigation satellites. They were anticipated to reach their final orbit simply under 4 hours after liftoff.” The monster in action,” Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël composed on Twitter of the Soyuz rocket after the launch. “On board our Soyuz, 2 Galileo satellites for [the European Space Agency], on behalf of the EU Commission.” The mission, if successful, the 2 brand-new Galileo satellites will grow the European international satellite navigation satellite to 28 satellites. The almost six-year-old constellation serves 2.3 billion users around the globe, Arianespace said in launch documentation.Related: How rockets work: A complete guideAn Arianespace Soyuz rocket carrying 2 brand-new Galileo navigation satellites launches into orbit from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Dec. 4, 2021. (Image credit: Arianespace) Arianespace used a Soyuz rocket produced by the Progress Space Rocket Center, which is a part of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. This is the 14th time this partnership intended to send a Galileo mission to area, Arianespace said.The objective is being carried out for the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of the European Commission, to bring “strategic autonomy and sovereignty to the EU [European Union] residents and its member states,” Arianespace said of the mission.Galileo is similar to the United States Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian Glonass system, but aims to provide Europeans a homemade alternative ought to among these other systems end up being unavailable to them.An artists illustration of a Galileo navigation satellite in orbit. (Image credit: Arianespace) The 26 Galileo satellites now in orbit were launched both by Soyuz rockets and by the businesss own heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 5. Arianespace plans 6 more Galileo satellites in the coming years using Soyuz and a next-generation rocket Ariane 6 version called Ariane 62. The first flight of the Ariane 6 rocket is expected now in 2022, postponed from 2020. Tonights mission, called Galileo FOC-M9, will be the 61st mission released by Arianespace on behalf of ESA and will bring the 83rd and 84th satellites for the partnership. The provided satellites will join the remainder of the Galileo constellation in medium Earth orbit at 14,429 miles (23,222 kilometers), according to ESA documentation.Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..