Latest LEOP Stories

Since the launch of MSG-3, ESA’s mission controllers have been working to ensure that this latest weather satellite’s voyage to 36 000 km above the Equator runs smoothly. With MSG-3 healthy and now in its place of work, ESA has handed operations over to Eumetsat. The third Meteosat Second Generation satellite took to the skies on an Ariane 5 rocket on 5 July from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Once fully operational, it will deliver essential information from...

Europe’s new meteorology mission is set to soar into space on an Ariane 5 from Kourou on 5 July. Just 34 minutes later, ESA’s team of expert mission controllers will begin shepherding the satellite through the critical first steps of its life. ESA developed the MSG series of satellites in close cooperation with Eumetsat – the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites – and ESOC is responsible for the complex ‘LEOP’ – the launch and early orbit...

Europe’s first two Galileo satellites have reached their final operating orbits, opening the way for activating and testing their navigation payloads. Marking the formal end of their LEOP Launch and Early Operations Phase, control of the satellites was passed Nov. 3 from the CNES French space agency center in Toulouse to the Galileo Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany. Oberfaffenhofen, operated by the German Aerospace Center DLR, will be in charge of the satellites' command...

ESA's CryoSat-2 has delivered its first data just hours after ground controllers switched on the satellite's sophisticated radar instrument for the first time. CryoSat-2 was launched on April 8 and has been performing exceptionally well during these critical first few days in orbit.Europe's first mission dedicated to studying variations in our planet's ice cover entered polar orbit just minutes after launch last Thursday, marking the start of three days of intense activity. Mission...

With liftoff scheduled in just a few weeks, ESA's CryoSat-2 ground teams are in intensive training for the launch and early orbit phase - the critical first steps in the mission's life.CryoSat-2 is scheduled for liftoff on February 25 from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan on a Dnepr - a converted SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile.For CryoSat-2, the ground segment - the hardware, software, telecommunications and other resources that operate the satellite and process data received...

ESA's SMOS satellite has recently completed its first phase of life in orbit "“ the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), which means that all the systems are working as they should and the satellite is ready for full commissioning.Following launch on November 2, the satellite has passed a number of important milestones as part of the LEOP, namely: the satellite platform and subsystems have shown to be functioning well, the MIRAS instrument has been deployed and is working as expected, the...

While the SMOS and Proba-2 launch campaigns are progressing well in Plesetsk, Russia, operations teams in France and Spain have also been getting ready for launch on November 2.Over the last couple of weeks, the operations teams have taken part in the final dress rehearsal for the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the mission. This simulation campaign complements two earlier dry-runs that were carried out in January and March and which simulated normal operating conditions.This dress...

After a perfect injection by the Ariane 5 launcher on May 14, the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) for Herschel and Planck has started to wind down, while commissioning of the scientific instruments and subsystems on both spacecraft has begun.Herschel and Planck are functioning nominally and are now en route to their final orbits around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system (L2), a point in space 1.5 million kms from Earth on the night-side.  The additional ground...

There's a buzz in the Main Control Room as the launch of Herschel and Planck gets closer. The two satellites are scheduled to launch together at 15:12 CEST, May 14, on an Ariane 5 from ESA's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Several critical events are planned leading up to and after launch.After launch, Herschel and Planck will be headed to L2, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, where they will operate from independent orbits.L2 is a local gravitational point that is fixed...

With ESA's family of Earth observation missions expanding, it makes sense to share operations engineers across satellites and conduct mission control from a combined Dedicated Control Room.The move is increasing efficiency, enhancing effectiveness and generating improved economic returns.Flight control teams operating Envisat and ERS-2 have long worked out of a combined Earth Observation (EO) Dedicated Control Room (DCR) at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, enabling spacecraft...