Germany and Europe
Interest in aerospace and new business areas has grown considerably worldwide in recent years. Many countries and companies want to be part of it. And they don’t want to be dependent on the big players of the past, like NASA, ESA (European Space Agency). Projects are now not only in the hands of governmental organizations.
Europe is competing with the USA, China, Russia, Asia and India. Furthermore, Arab countries are also entering the space and satellite communications market. Germany and France have been present for decades, directly and through various manufacturers and partners. Large corporations are essentially active there with solutions and services. Medium-sized companies and startups are only cautiously approaching the topic for financial reasons.
EU/ESA Project: Galileo an independent European satellite navigation system for civil applications.
The EU has set up the Galileo satellite navigation system under the leadership of ESA.
Galileo is the future European satellite navigation system, which is to provide data for precise positioning worldwide. Currently, the military-controlled systems GPS, operated by the USA, GLONASS (Russia) and Beidou (China) already exist. Galileo is intended to guarantee Europe’s independence and thus underline its sovereignty.
When fully deployed in 2020, Galileo will consist of a global network of 30 satellites. The satellites move uniformly on three orbital planes at an altitude of 23,000 kilometers. On Earth, two control stations in Germany and Italy as well as other receiving and transmitting stations in Europe and around the world guarantee that Galileo operates reliably and with high precision. The targeted accuracies in positioning are in the range of a few meters worldwide. Spaceopal, based in Munich, is responsible for operating the network. Spaceopal is an operating company in which a DLR company and Telespazio from Italy each have a 50% share.