GMV's Celeste IOD-1 satellite successfully transmits first navigation signal

At 10:38 CET on April 8, the Celeste IOD-1 satellite, developed by GMV and Alén Space under the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Celeste In-Orbit Demonstrator (IOD) program, successfully transmitted its navigation signal for the first time.

The reception of the signal from the Celeste IOD-1 satellite, confirmed by ESA teams at ESTEC, marks a key milestone for the program as it confirms the satellite’s successful commissioning in orbit. The signal was also received at GMV’s monitoring station in Lisbon.

The first two IOD satellites of the Celeste program—built by GMV and Thales Alenia Space, respectively—were launched on March 28 at 10:14 CET from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. Separation from the launch vehicle took place approximately one hour later, marking the start of the initial operations phase (LEOP) and commissioning. These activities for the IOD-1 satellite were carried out by an integrated team from GMV and Alén Space from the mission control center in Tres Cantos.

Celeste is ESA’s strategic program to demonstrate the benefits of an additional low Earth orbit (LEO) navigation layer that complements Galileo and EGNOS, with the goal of improving the accuracy, resilience, and security of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services in Europe. The in-orbit demonstrator (IOD) represents the program’s first phase and will validate key LEO-PNT technologies in flight ahead of potential future operational deployment.