GMV bidding to develop the Galileo Ground Control Segment in brand new premises

In January 1991 GMV set up its head office in the Madrid suburb of Tres Cantos, becoming one of the main firms to move into the Parque Tecnológico de Madrid (PTM). After various enlargements since, GMV now boasts a 10,325-m² site housing over 750 employees. Recently, GMV has decided to enlarge its central site in the technology park called Parque Tecnológico de Madrid, acquiring 6500 m² of office space in a 10,000-m plot to house 350 new employees. The two buildings together will now host the corporate services, the bulk of the space-, defense- and security-activities plus much of the activities of other sectors like cybersecurity, healthcare, telecommunications and information technologies for the public and private sectors.

The reform project is based on a modern design of collaborative working areas and state-of-the-art facilities built with comfort and energy-efficiency in mind. With three stories fitted out primarily as offices, the new building will also have restricted-access areas for carrying out classified or sensitive projects plus a shielded Tempest Room to eliminate electromagnetic emissions and ensure the privacy of IT infrastructure classed as critical.

Right from the word go GMV has chalked up steady growth throughout all its areas of activity; this has spawned a year-after-year increase in turnover and the hiring rate, to bring in fresh talent and create new jobs. GMV closed 2017 with a staff of 1631, over half of them working in these central facilities. With 34 years of history now behind it, GMV has achieved a 44% staff growth rate in the last five years

In recent years, the company’s growth has been particularly eyecatching in the space sector, where GMV is a worldwide benchmark in areas like satellite navigation. In the particular area of satellite control centers, moreover, GMV has held onto its position as the world’s number-one supplier of Ground Control Systems (GCSs) for the various operators of commercial telecommunications satellites.

This leadership in the space market means GMV always features in the new initiatives now underway within the sector and is also in pole position for the activities now in the pipeline within Europe’s space programs, such as Galileo, Copernicus or the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) project.

Under the Galileo program, as well as supplying several key elements of the ground segment such as the clock and orbit synchronizing system or the orbital control system, GMV is currently responsible for the Geodetic Reference Service Provider (GRSP) and Time Service provider (TSP) services; it is co-leading development of the European Union’s GNSS Service Centre (GSC), while leading the development of the Return Link Service Provider (RLSP) of the program’s Search and Rescue Service (SAR) and the development of the demonstration platform of Galileo’s commercial service (CS) plus the development of the Galileo Reference Center (GRC), which will evaluate system performance in the not too distant future.

This year GMV is also bidding for the €100-million, European-Commission contract, run by the European Space Agency (ESA), for development of the Galileo Control Center. If it wins the tender GMV would set up a brand new, suitably equipped site to house the necessary infrastructure and working team for carrying out this activity.