A pre-Christmas launch of Galileo 11 and 12 means that ESA have doubled the number of satellites in the Galileo constellation in just 9 months. Interestingly - they have now customised the launchers meaning that if successful, each subsequent launch will carry four satellites rather than two. Eggs, basket? Let's hope not. It will certainly help in getting the full constellation into orbit and operational alot quicker.
12 satellites claimed to be in orbit - and with 2 satellites per launch - six successful launches are therefore implied. So what happened to the two who failed to make it into the correct orbit after a problem with a software error/frozen fuel line? Was the orbit corrected? Or does, '12 Satellites in orbit' mean any orbit will do...
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