ARLA/CLUSTER: ESA informou a BBC que dos 9 relógios de navegação afectados nos seus 18 satellite, 3 são de Rubídio e 6 de Maser de Hidrogénio

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures

The onboard atomic clocks that drive the satellite-navigation signals on
Europe's Galileo network have been failing at an alarming rate.

Across the 18 satellites now in orbit, nine clocks have stopped operating.

Three are traditional rubidium devices; six are the more precise hydrogen
maser instruments that were designed to give Galileo superior performance
to the American GPS network.

Galileo was declared up and running in December.

However, it is still short of the number of satellites considered to
represent a fully functioning constellation, and a decision must now be
made about whether to suspend the launch of further spacecraft while the
issue is investigated.

Prof Jan Woerner, the director general of the European Space Agency (Esa),
told a meeting with reporters: "Everybody is raising this question: should
we postpone the next launch until we find the root cause, or should we
launch?

"You can give both answers at the same time. You can say we wait until we
find the solution but that means if more clocks fail we will reduce the
capability of Galileo. But if we launch we will at least maintain if not
increase the [capability], but we may then take the risk that a systematic
problem is not considered. We are right now in this discussion about what
to do."

Read the full BBC News article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38664225
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