The "Giove B" satellite, propelled by a Russian Soyuz rocket will blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the early hours of the morning but a year late.

The long-delayed European project is meant to challenge the dominance of the US-built Global Positioning System (GPS), which is widely used in satellite navigation devices in vehicles and ships.

"Today, we sent a clear signal to Europe and the whole world that we are still firmly committed to provide all European citizens and enterprises with a high-quality satellite-navigation service by 2013," said Radovan Zerjav, transport minister for Slovenia which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"We will create new jobs and Europe will claim its rightful place side by side with the technologically most developed world powers," he added.

Work on the project, already running five years behind the initial schedule, stalled last year as cost over-runs piled up, private contractors bickered and member states lobbied for their own industrial interests.

So far just one purely experimental satellite, with a limited lifespan, has been put in place, in 2005.

The two experimental satellites are to be followed, some time, by some 30 satellites placed in permanent orbit at an altitude of 20,000 kilometres (12,400 miles).

European Union transport ministers, meeting in Luxembourg Monday, reached a compromise on the role that the European Parliament will play in the management of Galileo, which will be EU-owned.

The political control of the project will be performed by the EU member states and the European Parliament, with assistance from an informal body dubbed GIP (Galileo Interinstitutional Panel).

The assembly will adopt the plan at a first reading this month, EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.

With that managerial problem out of the way negotiations should be able to start on handing out contracts for work on the Galileo project to European industry.

The 3.4 billion euro (5.3 billion dollar) cake will be divided into six segments consisting of the satellites, launchers, computer programmes, ground stations, control stations and the system's operation.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
GPS Applications, Technology and Suppliers