Germany pushes for full public funding of Galileo

(Report via NewsEdge) is pushing for full public funding of Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system in an effort to salvage the multibillion-euro project and get it into orbit by 2012.

 

Envisaged as a rival for the US-run GPS system, Galileo would comprise a network of 30 satellites beaming radio signals to receiving devices on the ground, helping users pinpoint their locations.

 

According to the Associated Press, the project faces major delays or collapse, as a consortium of eight companies from France, Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy has been unable to agree on how to share the work.

 

The European Commission has recommended that the project be taken away from the companies after they missed a May deadline to set up a joint legal entity to run the project.

Public funds were originally set aside to cover one-third, or about $1.62 million of the $4.85-million Galileo effort, with the private sector penciled in to provide the remaining $2.4 billion. But EU governments must decide if they are willing to cover the full cost and, more importantly, from where they would pull the money.

 

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