ESA welcomes conclusions of Barcelona European council on Galileo
The European space agency (ESA) Council, meeting in Paris on 20 and 21 March, has welcomed the decision of the Barcelona European Council on the Galileo satellite navigation system, which is being developed by the agency in cooperation with the European Union. ESA Director General Antonio Rodotà echoed the Council's response, saying: 'Space can do a lot for our citizens. Our global satellite navigation system is now only a step away from taking wing and flying high.' EU leaders meeting in Barcelona on 15 and 16 March welcomed the progress on Galileo and urged European transport ministers meeting on 25 and 26 March to 'take the necessary decisions' on the funding and launch of the programme. Meanwhile, an interim structure dubbed GISS (Galileo interim support structure) has been put in place to ensure that the technical development of Galileo is coherent with user requirements. Preparatory development activities have intensified in recent months with the European space industry and service and application industries. Key technologies which will be used on board Galileo's 30 satellites, such as atomic clocks and signal generation, are under development and the Galileo ground segment infrastructure has been refined in order to minimise implementation and operations costs. In addition, activities on the Galileo system test bed are due to start soon.