GALILEO

GALILEO is a European satellite positioning and navigation system designed specifically for civilian purposes. Its applications will spread into
many areas of all our lives – starting with safe and efficient transport.

The central component will be the global constellation of thirty satellites, distributed over three planes in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) designed to provide high level performances to users world-wide, even in places where there is no ground infrastructure.

GALILEO will offer differentiated service levels, principally:

• An Open Service, providing basic applications for the general public and services of general interest. As with civilian GPS, the Open Service will be free, but with improved quality and reliability.
• A Safety of Life Service providing a guaranteed signal for safety-critical applications.
• A Commercial Service facilitating the development of liability-critical applications offering guaranteed performance levels.
• A Public Regulated Service for users requiring a high continuity of service and controlled access.

The key GALILEO differentiators are enhanced accuracy and signal integrity. It is important to understand that integrity is very different in nature from accuracy. Highly accurate systems do not necessarily prevent major errors from occurring with a certain probability and no notification to the user. When integrity is ensured, non-reported errors are guaranteed not to occur with an extremely high probability.  

Recent GALILEO developments
 

Two years in space for Galileo satellite (18/12/2007, ESA): On 28 December, it will be two years since GIOVE-A - the first Galileo satellite - was launched by a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

 GNSS community gathers for first FP7 call (23/11/2007, European GNSS Supervisory Authority): Over 600 participants attended the ‘Growing GALILEO’ conference in Brussels on 14-15 November 2007, marking the publication of the first FP7 call for proposals for GNSS-related research and technological development.

 EU launches first FP7 satellite navigation call for proposals (15/11/2007, European GNSS Supervisory Authority): Published on 15 November 2007, the first of seven planned FP7 calls represents available funding in the amount of €40 million for GNSS-related research and technological development, including work on the GALILEO and EGNOS programmes.

 GSA to host major FP7 research launch  (14/11/07, European GNSS Supervisory Authority): the two-day conference will urge researchers to discover FP7 funding opportunities and form partnerships with other organisations.

 GNSS Evolution Programme (11/10/07, European Space Agency): ESA is launching a call for ideas for advanced radio navigation applications concepts

 Reprofiling the European GNSS Programmes  (19/09/07, European Commission): the European Commission has adopted a Communication which provides for the deployment phase of Galileo to be funded entirely from the Community budget to ensure that the project continues.
 

 GIOVE-A tests completed (17/08/07, European Space Agency): the test campaign to analyse the navigation signals transmitted by the first GALILEO satellite has been successfully completed.
 

Eurobarometer on GALILEO (4/06/07, European Commission): a recent survey indicates that most of EU citizens are aware of the role global positioning systems play in their everyday lives, know about possible applications and are firmly behind the development of such new technologies.
 

GALILEO at the crossroads (16/05/07, European Commission): The public-private partnership set up to implement Galileo needs to be reprofiled to enable Galileo to be brought into service in 2012 according to a Communication released by the European Commission.
 
GIOVE-A transmits first navigation message (4/05/07, European Space Agency): GIOVE-A successfully transmitted its first navigation message, containing the information needed by user receivers to calculate their position.
 
GIOVE-A2 to secure the GALILEO programme  (5/03/07, European Space Agency): ESA wishes to guarantee the continuity of the Galileo programme with the permanent presence of a second spacecraft in orbit.
 
GSA web site goes live (1/03/07, European GNSS Supervisory Authority): On 1 January 2007, GSA, a Community Agency, officially took over the tasks previously assigned to the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU), which was wound up at the end of 2006.
 
EU-US sign joint statement on trade & civil applications  (17/01/07, European Commission): The European Commission and the US Department of Commerce have agreed to exchange information on the status of the Galileo programme and initiate joint outrach efforts to improve the understanding of the complimentary nature of GPS and Galileo. 
 
One year of GALILEO  (12/01/07, European Space Agency): It is now one year since GIOVE-A began transmitting Galileo navigation signals.
 
Green Paper on GALILEO applications  (8/12/06, European Commission): The European Commission launches a long-awaited discussion on satellite navigation applications and the actions needed to create an appropriate policy and legal framework.  
 
Receivers key to GALILEO success  (27/10/06, European Space Agency): Europe’s navigation system requires new receiver designs to make use of the transmissions from its satellite constellation.
 
GIOVE-A laser ranging test successful  (3/10/06, European Space Agency): Fourteen laser ranging stations participated in a campaign to track ESA’s GIOVE-A satellite during the spring and summer of 2006.
 
EU and Korea seal GALILEO agreement  (11/09/06, European Commission): the agreement provides for numerous areas of co-operation, including cooperative activities in the areas of scientific research and training, industrial cooperation, trade and market development, standards, certification and regulatory measures.
 
Mid-term evaluation of the GALILEO programme  (5/09/06, European Commission): the objective of this mid-term evaluation was to assess the implementation of the development and validation phase of the GALILEO programme during the period 2002-2004 on the basis of 10 evaluation criteria.
 
GALILEO on-line tour (20/07/06, European Space Agency): The interactive, on-line tour, which explains the Galileo system development process, how the completed satellite navigation system will work and what it will achieve.
 
Call for ideas in GNSS R&D activities (6/07/06, Galileo Joint Undertaking): the GJU has launched a call for ideas with the objective of gathering proposals from the different European R&D partners (industries, research institutes, universities) for innovative R&D activities that would allow Europe taking an important role in the worldwide GNSS scene during the next decade.
 
ESA's navigation facility ready for the future (29/06/06, European Space Agency): In full operation since February 2006, ESA's Navigation Facility, located at the European Space Operations Centre, is producing a growing series of processed data products providing some of the world's most accurate orbit and clock calculations related to GNSS. 
 
Taking stock of the GALILEO programme (7/06/06, European Commission): The European Commission has adopted a communication taking stock of the GALILEO satellite radionavigation programme. The communication outlines the key components of this ambitious European project and includes an updated timetable for its implementation.
 
GALILEO Information Centre for Latin America opens (5/04/06, European Commission): The GIC seeks to contribute to increase awareness among main actors around GNSS in the region, as well as support the creation of links between key players and stakeholders from Latin America and Europe at different levels.
 
EU and the Republic of Korea seal their agreement (12/01/06, European Commission): negotiations on the Republic of Korea’s participation in Europe’s satellite radionavigation programme reached approval today. The agreement provides for co-operative activities in the areas of scientific research and training, industrial cooperation, trade and market development, standards, certification and regulatory measures, regional and local augmentations.
 
First GALILEO satellite on orbit (28/12/05, European Space Agency): The first Galileo demonstrator is in orbit, marking the very first step to full operability of Europe’s new global navigation satellite system, under a partnership between ESA and the European Commission (EC).