Millions of movements

Each Galileo Second Generation satellite will be equipped with two intersatellite link terminals that will allow it to communicate with other second generation satellites. The pointing mechanism of the terminal will reorient the antenna every 40 seconds to point towards a different satellite. Over the expected 15-year lifetime of the satellites, this will amount to 12 million reorientations.

To ensure the antenna pointing mechanism will work in space, without any maintenance, models of the mechanism were tested here on Earth.

In a seven-months-long test at Beyond Gravity’s facilities in Switzerland that finished in March 2026, the antenna pointing mechanism for Thales Alenia Space reoriented itself 15 million times in a row, verifying that it can last the planned lifetime of the second generation satellites.

As Beyond Gravity's tests were finishing, another model of the antenna pointing mechanism underwent electromagnetic compatibility testing and micro vibration testing as a part of the test campaign for the flight hardware system at ESA's technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. These tests ensured that it can function in the space environment. Following delivery to Thales Alenia Space in Spain, the mechanisms are integrated on the intersatellite link panel and then shipped to Rome for satellite integration.