Spain's Indra Awarded €52.3 Million Contract for Galileo Satellite Ground Stations

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 27, Spain's Indra Group signed two contracts with the European Space Agency in Barcelona for the development of ground stations for Europe's second-generation Galileo satellite navigation system, with a total contract value of €52.3 million and an execution period of 4 years for each. The two contracts cover the design, development and delivery of satellite signal monitoring stations (GSS) and satellite uplink stations (ULS), with the projects respectively managed by Indra's teams in Barcelona and Madrid and implemented in collaboration with European satellite navigation, communications and security technology companies.

The first contract, valued at €29.6 million, is led by Indra's team at the 22@ technology district in Barcelona, in collaboration with GMV and Thales SIX, a Thales subsidiary, to develop a new generation of Galileo satellite signal monitoring stations. GMV is responsible for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal reception and processing technology, while Thales SIX provides security technology support. The ground stations will receive and monitor satellite navigation signals and generate measurement data required for signal quality and orbit determination.

The second contract, valued at €22.7 million, is implemented by Indra's Madrid team to develop a new generation of Galileo satellite uplink stations. The system will transmit navigation mission data to satellites, with technical development involving satellite communications, active antennas, radio frequency equipment, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity. The project will collaborate with relevant specialized subcontractors to complete equipment development and system integration.

The new-generation signal monitoring stations will employ controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPA), software-defined radio and modernized computing architectures to enhance the ground receiving equipment's ability to resist radio interference and spoofing signals. The uplink stations will feature electronically beam-steered phased array antennas used in conjunction with traditional parabolic antennas. Both types of ground stations are designed to be compatible with existing and second-generation Galileo satellites, with equipment technical qualification and global ground station deployment to follow.