SES wins contract to provide satcom services to Europe’s Galileo
SES TechCom, the service company of Satellite Services (SES S.A), recently closed a deal with BT to deliver satellite communications services for the Galileo Data Dissemination Network (GDDN) in support of the Galileo Operator Spaceopal. The agreement with BT includes SES TechCom’s deployment, maintenance and support of Satcom ground infrastructure at different remote locations across the globe, including Antarctica, as well as providing satellite capacity, monitoring and controlling the GDDN satellite network. Aside from being GDDN’s communication service provider, BT is also responsible for the design, deployment and operation. Meanwhile, Spaceopal is the contractor of Galileo’s Operations. Managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the EU, Galileo is the initiative of Europe for a global satellite navigation system. It is specifically designed to deliver service under civilian control. GDDN interconnects the two Galileo Control Centers in Italy and Germany to an extensive network of sensor stations, uplink stations and Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) stations distributed across the globe. It also delivers connectivity to Galileo’s satellite test and launch facilities, network management facilities, external entities and security monitoring centers. In a statement, SES TechCom Managing Director Gerhard Bethscheider noted: "The selection of SES TechCom for this prestigious project illustrates the reputation which the Luxembourg Space industry has acquired since 2005, when the Grand-Duchy became a full member of the European Space Agency. We are delighted to work closely together with our partners BT and Spaceopal on the realisation of Europe`s most prestigious satellite navigation constellation."