3.3.2.3 ESAと欧州委員会がGalilco契約に署名
ESAのPress Release (Nr.49-99 - Paris, 7 December 1999)から抜粋
“The European Space Agency and the European Commission sign contracts for the Galileo program”
In Paris today, the European Space Agency (ESA) signs the contract for the GalileoSat study, the ESA's contribution to the definition phase of the Galileo satellite navigation program, agreed last May by the ESA Council at ministerial level. On the same week, in Brussels, the European Commission will give its green light to sign four major contracts with industry. Together, these contracts will cover the definition phase of the Galileo program (November 1999- December 2000) agreed in June by the European Union Council of Ministers of Transport.
The signature of these contracts marks a true milestone in the development of a novel program for Europe. Once implemented, Galileo will be a multimodal global navigation satellite system that will not only give Europe independence in the field of traffic management and telematics infrastructure but bring vast economic benefits for European equipment manufacturers and service industry and create additional jobs. Current projections envisage that the Galileo system will consist of at least 21 satellites (in medium earth orbit at 24 000 km, possibly complemented by geostationary satellites at 36 000 km) and the associated ground infrastructure. It will be compatible and interoperable with the planned second-generation global positioning systems.
The cost of the overall project is estimated at some 2.7 billion euros, out of which an initial amount of 80 million Euros, equally shared between the European Commission and ESA, has been allocated by European Ministers for the on-going definition phase. Financial schemes for the subsequent phases are being worked out and will be submitted to the EC and ESA's Councils. Under current plans, Galileo will stmt operations in 2005 and achieve full operational capability in 2008.
