Galileo satellite system gets off the ground…just

EU transport ministers finally agreed last Friday (30 November) a plan to ensure the launch of the Galileo satellite navigation system in 2013, overcoming last-minute opposition from Spain.

The agreement on the technical and management aspects of the scheme, following the financing deal struck on 23 November, means that EU leaders should avoid haggling over the fine detail of the scheme when they meet in Brussels next week (14 December), one day after the signing of the new Treaty of Lisbon in the Portuguese capital.

The final compromise is a mixture of guarantees that the contracts will be shared fairly among a number of countries’ aerospace industries with an attempt to cap the overall spending.

The deal will see a maximum of €3.4 billion being drawn from the EU’s budget to take the project through to launch - in theory five years from now although the project to put up a ring of 26 satellites is already behind schedule.

The compromise stitched together by the Portuguese presidency of the EU with the help of the European Commission aims to prevent a single technology firm dominating the lucrative work contracts by ensuring that one company cannot win more than two of the six separate contracts into which the project has been divided. These are system engineering support, ground-mission infrastructure completion, ground control infra-structure completion, satellites, launchers and operations. There were fears that the work would be carved up between EADS Astrium (a Franco-British-German company) and Thales (French company).

In addition, 40% of the work under each of the packages will have to be put out to tender to companies other than ones which have the main contracts. This goes someway to address Germany’s demand that its small- and medium-sized industries profit from the publicly funded project.

The other major sticking point was over control centres. Germany and Italy were adamant that they should each host a ground control centre, with Germany’s in Oberpfaffenhofen in Bavaria and Italy’s in Fucino. But Spain refused to accept the conclusions just before the Council meeting, unless its centre in Madrid was given the possibility to become a fully fledged satellite control centre. At present, the centre is responsible for safety-of-life, one of the five services that Galileo will offer.

The deal tries to address the concerns that the project could prove a constant drain on EU finances if it hits further delays on the way to starting operations in 2013. First, there is an attempt to cap the overall budget to the €3.4bn earmarked for 2007-13, which includes the extra €2.4bn agreed by budget ministers last week. The deal contains a "contingency reserve" and the conclusions state that "this should constitute the ceiling for expenditure" during the period. It adds, rather unconvincingly, that the "unidentified risks of the European GNSS [global navigation satellite system] do not require specific budgetary measures at this stage, over and above the foreseen contingency reserve".

The conclusions also state that the project should take "maximum benefit of open competition" although this is qualified by saying that there should be a "balanced participation of all member states". Specifically, there should be "dual sourcing" wherever possible to avoid relying too heavily on a single supplier and to help ensure better control of costs and keeping to the timetable. The meeting’s final conclusions said that there were a limited number of main suppliers in the space sector and that there was a need to avoid "possible abuse of dominance or long-term dependency on single suppliers".

Another measure intended to pressure companies to keep to the timetable is a decision to divide the 26 satellites to be built into three batches. A company will have to deliver on the first 10-12 satellites before getting the green light for the other batches of six-eight satellites each.

Speaking after the meeting, Wolfgang Tiefensee, Germany’s transport minister, declared he was satisfied with the outcome because "a very large share of this €3.4bn will flow back to Germany directly and indirectly".

He did not comment on whether the scheme represented the best use of taxpayers’ money.

EU transport ministers finally agreed last Friday (30 November) a plan to ensure the launch of the Galileo satellite navigation system in 2013, overcoming last-minute opposition from Spain.