Celeste is ESA’s mission designed to test novel satellite navigation concepts for resilient positioning and timing services.
Celeste will demonstrate how a complementary layer flying closer to Earth can enhance Europe’s current Galileo system in medium Earth orbit (MEO), boosting the overall resilience, enhancing its performance and opening opportunities for new service capabilities directly from LEO.
The mission will begin with two in-orbit demonstration satellites, IOD-1 and IOD-2, to secure and test the assigned frequency filings and transmit representative navigation signals until the end of the year.
The two satellites consist of two large CubeSats (12U and 16U respectively), both developed by two consortia composed by a wide set of European players, one led by GMV (Spain) and the other led by Thales Alenia Space (France).
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Celeste Mission B-Rolls: April 2026 - Satellite Navigation Laboratory
Celeste Mission B-Rolls: April 2026 - ESA’s Celeste broadcasts first navigation signal from low Earth orbit
Celeste Mission B-Rolls: December 2025 - Preparatory activities in the premises of Thales Alenia Space
Celeste Mission B-Rolls: November 2025 - Preparatory activities, in the premises of GMV
Celeste Mission B-Rolls: October 2025 - Preparatory activities at Alter technology
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