The European Commission announced that the first two satellites in the Galileo global navigation system will the launched on October 20th, leading to the first services being available in 2014. This will be the first of a series of launches from Europe’s Space Port in Kourou, French Guiana, with the system due to be complete by 2019.
The Commission is pressing ahead despite the fact still needs to find funding of €1.9 billion between 2014 and 2020 to complete the infrastructure of the Galileo satellite system. The current stage of the project running from 2007 – 2013 has EU funding of €3.4 billion.
Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President in charge of Industry and Entrepreneurship, said the October launches are of historical importance, with Europe demonstrating the capability to be at the forefront of technological innovation. “Thousands of SMEs and innovators across Europe will be able to spot business opportunities and to create and develop their products based on the future Galileo infrastructure. Citizen will benefit from its services,” Tajani said as he announced the launch date. He added, “Galileo is value for money and I count on members states’ cooperation to find a solution for its financing.”
The decision to fix the date of the first launch follows a detailed review of progress under the chairmanship of the European Space Agency. This concluded that space and ground segment components and operational preparedness are progressing according to schedule.
Galileo is expected to provide data that will underpin sectors including fleet management, financial services, the shipping industry, along with rescue operations and peace-keeping missions, which all depend heavily on satellite navigation technology.
In addition, the Commission claims Galileo will make Europe independent in a technology that is becoming critical for strategic areas such as electricity distribution and telecommunication networks. Overall, the Galileo system is expected to deliver €60 billion to the European economy over a period of 20 years in terms of additional revenues for industry and in terms of public and social benefits.
The first services will be available in 2014/2015, based on an initial constellation of 18 satellites. These will be an initial open service, a Public Regulated Service and a Search-and-Rescue Service.
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