Brussels/Luxembourg, 07/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 6 June, European Energy Ministers gave the European Commission a mandate to open negotiations with the US and Norway to access the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS). This European navigation satellite programme is expected to be able to rival the US GPS system in the long term.
The PRS sets out the securitised positioning and synchronisation service with restricted access, which has been specially devised to respond to the needs of authorised public sector users.
On Tuesday 7 June, the news was welcomed by the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, who had travelled to Luxembourg to examine defeat devices (see other article) with transport ministers, in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal. The Commissioner believes that these two agreements highlight international interest in the European programme. She pointed out that Galileo certainly presented an economic interest and by 2020 would help ensure European independence in this field in regard to the US GPS.
The Commissioner considers that the Galileo programme is on the right track for providing initial services by the end of the year, with the recent launching into orbit of two new satellites from the constellation and next autumn's launch of four new satellites (see EUROPE 11557). This will be a crucial moment in the programme's success, insofar as it will be necessary to swiftly develop trust and credibility among service users and locate economic outlets. To achieve this end, one of the main challenges will be to ensure that microchip manufacturers integrate Galileo standards to ensure their compatibility.
The programme is achieving real progress. Last May, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) gave official recognition to the Galileo Search and Recovery Service (SAR).
Data use is the crucial key to the vaults of the future European Space Strategy (see EUROPE 11540) expected next October. A public consultation has been opened until 12 July on the question of using the European terrestrial observation programme, Copernicus (see EUROPE 11535). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)