GALILEO: the Procurement for the First Constellation of the European Navigation Satellites Will Now Start

BRUSSELS --- Today the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) have launched the procurement of the first complete constellation of the European satellite navigation system. A total of 30 dedicated navigation satellites will be put into space, monitored and controlled by a ground-based infrastructure which will be deployed around the world, with the main control centres in Europe.>> European Commission Vice-President in charge of transport Antonio Tajani, declared: By launching this procurement, we are preparing to launch Galileo into a new era where space age technology brings down-to-earth benefits for every citizen and business in Europe. With Galileo, the European Union will buy a state-of the-art satellite navigation system which will increase economic efficiency and reduce congestion and energy consumption throughout the transport sector. That means boosting growth and jobs and helping to tackle climate change, while also making daily life safer and easier ".>> The overall programme objective for Galileo is the deployment, by 2013, of a European navigation system providing signals that offer a total of five main services, namely the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service, the Commercial Service, the Public Regulated Service, and the Search and Rescue Service.>> The European Parliament and the Council have allocated a budget of EUR 3.4 billion for the European satellite navigation programmes EGNOS and Galileo for the period 2007-2013 and provided for an agreement on the governance structure of the programmes. This revised framework provides for the deployment of the full operational capability (FOC) of Galileo under a public procurement scheme, entirely financed out of the EU budget.