European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said this would help Galileo to provide better results. “It will also open up a series of business opportunities for small and medium seized enterprises both from Norway and the EU.”
Norway will now be more active in the institutions and committees that are responsible for the governance of Galileo.
The European Commission will install two ground stations, one on the island of Svalbard and one on Norwegian Antarctic Territory. Norway has committed to protecting Galileo radio frequencies from disruption and interference and to protecting the ground facilities from intrusion.
When it is completed, the Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites orbiting the earth and the related ground infrastructure. The system will start operating in 2014 with an initial constellation of 18 satellites.
This will allow the provision of three preliminary services:
Open Service for normal navigation applications or enhanced GPS;
Search-And-Rescue Service for rescue operations;
an encrypted Public Regulated Service for use by the authorities.
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