Galileo, the Long Road to European Autonomy
Galileo is one of the most ambitious programs ever managed by the EU. As such, it illustrates the challenges and the opportunities offered by the development of a European Space Policy at the political, industrial, economic and international level.
Galileo, the European program for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), was launched by the European Union in 1999. Part of the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the future satellite constellation is meant to be a leading project for Europe, bringing strategic independence and political status to the continent, allowing Europeans to reap huge benefits from future services while maintaining an industrial and technological basis. The program has been crippled by a series of disputes and delays, however. More than ten years after the official launch of Galileo, the expected date for the Full Operational Capability (FOC) of the system keeps being pushed back. It is currently 2016.
Available in:
Regions and themes
ISBN / ISSN
Share
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Galileo, the Long Road to European Autonomy
Author(s)
Christophe VENET
Ancien chercheur associé
Laurence NARDON
Responsable du Programme Amériques de l'Ifri
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
China-Russia Cooperation in Space: The Reality behind the Speeches
China-Russia cooperation in space has been increasing for the past two decades. This cooperation accelerated after the Crimea crisis in 2014 and culminated with the announcement in 2021 of the joint construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
Space in a Changing Environment: a European Point of View
The development of European space activities has long been pursued under the framework of the European Space Agency and other national space agencies. More recently, the emergence of the European Union as a new actor for space has paved the way for a series of initiatives and opportunities.
The Vegetation Programme
Under human pressure, many changes are taking place in the resources and the environment of Earth. An increasing global population fuels the need for food, natural resources and land. Consequently, the need for maintaining a capacity to observe and understand the Earth system and the biophysical processes has become a key element for the sustainable management of the planet’s natural resources. The SPOT-Vegetation instruments have significantly contributed to reach this goal.
Governing the Geostationary Orbit: Orbital Slots and Spectrum Use in an Era of Interference
Outer space, particularly in the telecommunication sector, is benefiting and becoming accessible to more and more actors. But with this trend comes also a reality that is every day more compelling: no meaningful development can be achieved without a clear, stable and predictable interference-free environment for the use and control of all satellites that depend upon ready access to radio frequencies and appropriate geostationary orbital slots to function properly.