12/04/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 6 April, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) announced that it had signed an 18-year €102 million contract with Eutelsat Communications covering the implementation of the new EGNOS Geostationary (GEO) space-based augmentation system (SBAS) payload service (GEO-3). The EGNOS programme seeks to improve the performances of the US GSP navigation programme in Europe. This contract ensures the continuous availability of the EGNOS Signal in Space (SIS) and smooth transition from EGNOS V2 to EGNOS V3. The European Space Agency (ESA) will be in charge of preparing the service, while the GSA will guarantee its availability. The new GEO-3 will be installed on the Eutelsat 5 West B satellite, which is expected to be sent into orbit at the end of 2018, according to the online specialist Inside GNSS (IG). The service is due to begin in 2019 for a 15-year period. (PH)