Two new European Galileo FOC M9 satellites have successfully separated from the Russian Fregat upper stage. This was announced on Sunday, December 5, on its website by the state corporation Roscosmos.
It is noted that the spacecraft are in the target orbit. The Soyuz-ST-B launch vehicle and the Fregat upper stage "worked without comments," the corporation said.
Earlier in the day, a Russian Soyuz-ST-B launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage and two Galileo FOC spacecraft successfully launched from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana. Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin added that the launch took place at the estimated time.
Of the 28 Galileo satellites already in Earth orbit, 14 were launched by Soyuz-2 launch vehicles between 2011 and 2016, and today two more spacecraft have been added to them.
Galileo is a European global satellite navigation system operating since 2016. It provides high-precision positioning, navigation and timing services to more than 2.3 billion users worldwide.
