The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced details of the roll-out of its Galilieo global positioning satellite programme - but it is looking for private investment to help fund the €3.4 billion ($4 billion) development and deployment of the plan, as well as the estimated €220 million a year running costs of the service.
Despite the high cost, such are the benefits Galileo should provide in terms of journey times and safety that an independent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates it will break even as early as 2011, says Claudio Mastracci, ESA director of applications. ESA also announced a firmed-up timescale for the implementation of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which will provide a European satellite navigation capability from next year but will be rolled into Galileo between 2006 and 2008.
Using three existing Inmarsat and Artemis satellites and a network of ground stations, EGNOS takes information from two existing military satellite navigation systems, the US GPS and the Russian GLONASS, validates the data and makes it suitable for civilian uses such as aircraft or shipping navigation. It will allow users in Europe and beyond to determine their position to within 5m compared with about 20m at present.
EGNOS is a joint project between ESA, the EC and Eurocontrol. It will become fully operational in 2004. In the meantime, a test signal, broadcast by two Inmarsat satellites, allows potential users to acquaint themselves with the facility and test its usefulness.
EGNOS is "at a crucial stage", says Mastracci. "EGNOS involves installing 47 pieces of equipment in 22 countries. Our target is complete deployment by the beginning of 2004 and being fully operational by mid-2004. We want to create a GPS-like signal that is safe, reliable and has high integrity. It is being developed by a consortium led by Alcatel, and once operational will be run by a contractor."
Source: Flight Daily News