Long term evolution of the Galileo constellation due to gravitational forces

This paper is devoted to a modelling of that 4-body system (satellite, Earth, Moon, Sun). Some interesting characteristics of the whole constellation can be deduced. We show that resonance effects considerably modify the initial configuration of the constellation, strongly depending on initial longitudes of satellites if the motion is free-of-manoeuvres. As a result, these resonance effects must be taken into account to perform the necessary Galileo constellation analysis, and to study its long-term evolution.