GIOVE-A PRECISE ORBIT DETERMINATION FROM MICROWAVE and SATELLITE LASER RANGING DATA - FIRST PERSPECTIVES FOR THE GALILEO CONSTELLATION AND ITS SCIENTIFIC USE

The navigation office of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is engaged in various activities using the GIOVEA observations, recorded at the GALILEO Experimental Sensor Stations (GESS). Main topics are testing and improvement of the NAPEOS software installed at ESOC. The overall goal is the scientific use of the future GALILEO constellation within the tasks and goals of ESA and the International GNSS Service (IGS). Key elements of the future applications are proper modelling of GALILEO orbits and assessment of quality and performance of the GALILEO observables.