Anniversary: ESA's GIOVE-A Turns 6

One of the most important prototype satellites the European Space Agency ever constructed celebrated its sixth anniversary yesterday. The GIOVE-A spacecraft was launched on December 28, 2005, as a lead validation element for the upcoming Galileo satellite navigation constellation.

Even after all this time, the spacecraft is still in good shape, and can boast having achieved its mission flawlessly. The first two Galileo satellites were launched to orbit just a couple of months ago, from the Kourou Spaceport, in French Guiana, South America.

The first Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element satellite (GIOVE-A) was launched to space aboard a Russian-built Soyuz rocket, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The prototype rubidium atomic clock it carries was all the rage in science and technology when it launched.

Its first companion, called GIOVE-B, launched on April 27, 2008, carrying an ultra-precise passive hydrogen maser atomic clock. The goal was to compare which of them is more precise.