The European Commission is trying to play down the breakdowns in the atomic clocks of the European Galileo satellite navigation programmes, as revealed in comments by European Commission spokesperson Lucia Caudet on Friday 20 January.
‘We are aware that there are issues with certain clocks in some Galileo satellites and are taking them seriously, very seriously", Lucia Caudet told this newsletter. She added, however, as explained by the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA): ‘Each satellite has four clocks. Each satellite needs only one clock to work but has been equipped with four clocks each, precisely to ensure sufficient back-up.’
At a conference on Wednesday 18 January, the ESA director general, Jan Wörner, announced that nine atomic clocks had broken for as yet unknown reasons (see EUROPE 11706). This is problematic because the clocks play a key role in ensuring accuracy in determining the satellites’ location.
Possible postponement of next launch. The ESA is currently carrying out an in-depth investigation to discover the causes of the breakdowns, explained Wörner. At present, five of the 17 satellites have broken clocks, a total of nine of the 72 clocks being out of order. These anomalies could delay the launch of new satellites, said Wörner.
The breakdowns come at a bad time because Galileo’s initial services were launched only a few weeks ago (see EUROPE 11689). Galileo is one of the cornerstones of the EU’s space strategy, unveiled in October (see EUROPE 11655). The programme has been in the media for its technical hitches and implementation delays (see EUROPE 11139). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)