Galileo satellite to get EUR 230m from China

Date:25/09/03

By Karen Carstens

CHINA is to provide €230 million in funding towards the EU's Galileo global satellite navigation system, which aims to offer a more accurate alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the United States military.

"China will help Galileo to become the major world infrastructure for the growing market for location services," said Loyola de Palacio, the energy and transport commissioner.

China's Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua highlighted that his country would "participate actively" in the construction of Galileo for what he termed its "mutual benefits".

The European Commission, together with the European Space Agency, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and Chinese Remote Sensing Centre have set up the China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technical Training and Cooperation Centre, which will be based at Beijing University.

China has a substantial satellite industry and could potentially help launch the Galileo satellites.

The Galileo project, beleaguered for several years by internal squabbling among several EU member states which sought to control and profit from it, has long drawn the ire of the United States Department of Defense.

The EU-China link-up will confirm the Pentagon's worst fears: US military officials are particularly concerned that Chinese weapons could incorporate the Galileo system.

Moreover, the US has long claimed that Galileo could interfere with the US ability to downgrade the GPS service during military conflicts.

European officials, meanwhile, counter that US opposition is solely due to the commercial challenge Galileo would present to GPS: Galileo will be precise to within a metre, while the civilian GPS service is accurate to only around ten metres.

The Galileo satellite constellation will consist of 27 operational and three reserve satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 23,600 kilometres. The satellites will be situated at an angle of 56 degrees to the equator and provide global coverage.

The system should be operational by 2008, and the project is expected to cost around €3.2 billion.

The Commission has said it will primarily be used for transportation technology, scientific research, land management and disaster monitoring.

Galileo will provide two signals: a standard civilian one and an encrypted, wide-band signal called the Public Regulated Service (PRS). This second signal is designed to withstand localized jamming and will be used by the police and military in Europe.

EU officials have said China will not be given access to PRS.

The first Galileo satellite is scheduled for launch in 2004. Clocks on board the satellites will be synchronized through 20 ground sensor stations, two command centres and 15 uplink stations.

Receivers on the ground will use time signals from the satellites to precisely calculate their location. A "search and rescue" function will also let distress signals be relayed through the constellation of satellites.

Galileo was initiated by the Commission and developed jointly with the European Space Agency.

"To date, this technology, which promises to be highly profitable, is only mastered by the United States GPS system and Russia's GLONASS system, both of which are financed and controlled by the military authorities," the Commission said in a statement.

"The Galileo programme will be administered and controlled by civilians and offers a guarantee of quality and continuity which is essential for many sensitive applications.

"Its complementarity with current systems will increase the reliability and availability of navigation and positioning services worldwide."

An agreement was reached on 18 September 2003 between the European Union and China on its participation in the GALILEO programme.