Orolia has secured a set of contracts to provide atomic clocks for 12 satellites of the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).

As part of the €26m deals, each satellite will have two Rubidium atomic clocks and two passive Hydrogen Masers.

Orolia will supply its Spectratime Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard, and its Passive Hydrogen Masers physics package for an additional 12 Galileo satellites.

The quadruple clock redundancy designed into each satellite ensures that even if a failure occurs, overall system performance will not be compromised.

Orolia CEO Jean Yves Courtois said: “These new contracts further emphasise Orolia’s position as the world’s leading provider of resilient positioning, timing and navigation (PNT) solutions.”

“These new contracts further emphasise Orolia’s position as the world’s leading provider of resilient positioning, timing and navigation (PNT) solutions.”

The company has already provided more than 100 atomic clocks for the existing Galileo system in operation.

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Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and other missions have also used the Orolia Spectratime atomic clocks.

The Galileo system is designed to serve as Europe’s independent PNT source.

However, in case of service disruption, Galileo can act as a secondary signal source for other space-based navigation systems such as the US’s Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) or BeiDou.

When fully deployed, the Galileo system will be equipped with 24 operational satellites plus six in-orbit spares.

To be placed in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes, the system is expected to be completed by 2020.

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