Thermal Simulations for the Laser Retro-Reflector Onboard Galileo 2nd Generation

Galileo 2
^nd
Generation (G2G) represents a significant improvement in European satellite navigation services over the current Galileo constellation, which is the most precise satellite navigation system in the world, with a decimeter-scale accuracy. By using electric propulsion, G2G satellites will be able to shift from their launch orbits to their final operational orbits. Such innovation allows the launch of two satellites simultaneously, despite their increased mass. The first G2G satellites are expected to be launched soon. Laser Retroreflectors (LRRs) onboard the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are crucial, via Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), not only to track their orbital position with an independent geodesy technique, but also for calibrating the atomic clocks and georeferencing the orbits to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF).