In a June 27th decision in Brussels, the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) gave the green light to Eurely and iNavSat to pursue their joint approach for the Galileo Concession. The two* can now complete the merger of their consortium and proceed towards the final concession contract negotiations which will formalize the Galileo Public Private Partnership by the end of this year. The merger of the consortia will enable them to exploit numerous synergies offered by the combination of respective resources and competencies.

This decision marks a milestone in the development of one of Europe’s largest common programs.

Galileo at a glance
(PDF - click to enlarge)

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In 2010 with Galileo, Europe will have a global satellite positioning system at its disposal, putting an end to the American GPS monopoly. This giant space project, valued at 3.4 billion euros, will put 30 satellites into orbit which will guarantee positioning services - to within a few meters - over the entire planet.

The basic service will be free and will allow users to receive both Galileo and GPS signals on the same device. For more specialized applications which must be paid for, uninterrupted service will be guaranteed. Galileo will also offer a warning system if the system’s precision should suddenly decline. This is contrary to the American GPS which can be cut off or scrambled at any moment by the US Department of Defense.

The goal of this program is to catch up with the American GPS industry. The European Union predicts that once deployed, the Galileo system will create thousands of jobs in Europe and will generate a commercial market worth 200 billion euros as early as 2013.

* The founding members of Eurely and iNavSat are: AENA, Alcatel, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, and Thales.