Media invitation: First Celeste launch online media briefings

Celeste will play a pioneering role in elevating the future of Europe's satellite navigation capabilities. As ESA's initiative in satellite navigation in low Earth orbit (LEO), the mission will test next-generation technologies and add new frequency bands for satellite navigation.

Celeste will demonstrate how a complementary layer flying closer to Earth can enhance Europe's current Galileo system in medium Earth orbit (MEO), boosting its overall resilience, enhancing its performance and opening opportunities for new service capabilities directly from LEO.

Interested journalists are kindly requested to register by 17:00 CET on 10 March: https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form. Only registered media will be able to attend and ask questions.

Briefing schedule, Thursday 12 March (all times in CET)

09:00-10:00: Briefing in French

Participants:

Alan Le Priellec, System Engineer, ESA

Michel Monnerat, Director of Bids & Advanced Projects in Navigation at Thales Alenia Space

10:00-11:00: Briefing in Dutch

Participant:

ESA speaker: Edward Breeuwer, LEO-PNT Senior System Engineer, ESA

11:00-12:00: Briefing in Italian

Participants:

Pietro Giordano, Celeste System Manager, ESA

Andrea Gallon, Head of Future Navigation Department, Thales Alenia Space

11:00-12:00: Briefing in German

Participants:

Jörg Hahn, Head of Galileo System Engineering Service, ESA

Marco Anghileri, Celeste Payload Manager, ESA

12:30-13:30: Briefing in Spanish

Participants:

Roberto Prieto Cerdeira, Head of the Celeste Programme, ESA

Eduardo Fernández Matamala, Deputy Programme Manager for Celeste mission, GMV

14:00-15:00: Briefing in English

Participants:

Javier Benedicto Ruiz, Director of Navigation, ESA

Michel Monnerat, Director of Bids & Advanced Projects in Navigation at Thales Alenia Space

Miguel M. Romay, Satellite Navigation Systems General Manager, GMV

Roberto Prieto Cerdeira, Head of the Celeste Programme, ESA

About Celeste

The Celeste mission is ESA's initiative for LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning Navigation and Timing) and is currently in its in-orbit demonstration phase. This first phase features a demonstration constellation of 11 satellites that will fly in low Earth orbit to test innovative signals across various frequency bands. Its goal is to advance satellite navigation concepts for resilient positioning and timing services.

The Celeste in-orbit demonstration phase was approved at ESA's Council at Ministerial Level of 2022. The fleet is being developed through two parallel contracts respectively led by GMV (ES) with OHB (DE) as core partner, and by Thales Alenia Space (FR) as prime and Thales Alenia Space (IT) as space segment responsible. The two consortia involve over 50 entities from more than 14 countries.

Celeste was further supported in ESA's Council at Ministerial Level of 2025 (CM25), towards the implementation of the next phase: the LEO-PNT In-Orbit Preparatory phase.

Celeste also contributes to one of the three core pillars of ESA's new European Resilience from Space (ERS) initiative, endorsed at CM25. ERS addresses critical security and resilience needs for Member States while laying the groundwork for future European strategic space capabilities.

More information

Follow the Celeste launch campaign

More information on Celeste

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Video

Celeste: Demonstrating navigation resilience from low Earth orbit

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The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe's gateway to space.

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