EU's Galileo satellite moves ahead; first contracts awarded - Summary

Brussels- The European Union's satellite navigation system, Galileo, moved a step closer to reality on Thursday as the bloc's executive awarded the first contracts for its hardware. The move means that the first European-operated satellite navigation services should come online in 2014, taking its place alongside the US Global Positioning System (GPS), EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said.

"We can now focus on the actual roll-out and demonstrate to European citizens that Europe's own satellite navigation system is firmly under way," Tajani said.

Galileo is the EU's answer to the American GPS and the equivalent Russian system, GLONASS. It is meant to provide business and private users and rescue services with navigation information accurate to within four centimeters anywhere on Earth.

Unlike GPS, which was designed for the US military, Galileo is a civilian system, meaning that its signals will not be distorted when the army asks, as has been the case with GPS, Tajani said.

Galileo "will ensure Europe's political independence" in the crucial area of navigation, he said.

While European in origin, the system has been designed to work with Russian and US models, and negotiations are ongoing to make sure that it is compatible with a planned Chinese system.

"We want to make Galileo into a global system," Tajani stressed.

Galileo's set-up should ensure that users can receive a strong signal even in city centers and in the far north of Europe, two areas where the current GPS system is often weak, Tajani said. The biggest contract awarded was a 566-million-euro (813-million-dollar) order for Galileo's first 14 satellites, placed with German firm OHB, based in the northern city of Bremen.

The first satellite should be delivered in June 2012, with one more to be finished every six weeks until March 2014.

Ultimately, the Galileo system is meant to have 32 satellites. OHB is currently bidding against German rival EADS-Astrium for the right to provide the remaining units.

Simultaneously, the commission placed an 85-million-euro order with Italy's ThalesAleniaSpace for system support and engineering, and tasked French space company Arianespace with launching 10 satellites into space for a total cost of 397 million euros.

The first launch is scheduled for October 2012, the commission statement said.

Contracts for further work on the project are expected to be awarded in the next six months.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302550,eus-galileo-satellite-moves-ahead-first-contracts-awarded--summary.html.