Galileo in orbit

Galileo

The big day is coming for Galileo, Europe's controversial €3.2bn satellite navigation system, with the first test satellite to be launched just after Xmas. Two test-bed satellites will secure the system's frequencies and trial new technology: one, Giove-A, will be launch on 26 December 2005, and the second, Giove-B, is scheduled for launch in early 2006. The final constellation of 30 satellites will become a rival to US' GPS system, but is claimed to be able to provide heightened accuracy, particularly in built-up areas. Europe believes a satellite navigation system independent of GPS but inter-operable with it will drive a multi-billion euro industry, with more than 400m satellite navigation users supporting 100,000 jobs by 2015. Two consortia, iNavSat (made of EADS, Thales and Inmarsat ) and Eurely (made of Alcatel, Finmeccanica, AENA and Hispasat) will jointly run Galileo.