Galileo is one of the most ambitious space projects ever undertaken in Europe, as a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC) works to bring full operability to Europe’s own satellite navigation system.

While early tests with GIOVE-A have been successful, Galileo is entering a critical phase. The contract for the project needs to be finalized by the end of the year, and one of the critical issues that must be solved during negotiations between the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) and the consortium that will be responsible for bringing the system to full operations is how the costs will be split between public and private investment.

The completion of these negotiations will mark the end of the job for Rainer Grohe, executive director of the GJU. Grohe spoke with Satellite News international editor Mark Holmes about these efforts, and what lessons can be learned and how best the Galileo project can develop going forward.

Satellite News: What are the major challenges for the GJU before it closes down?

Grohe: The planning is that we will cease to exist at the end of this year. We have to solve all problems and clashes within this short period of time. The main task is to transfer all the activities which are ongoing to the GSA, and to select the concessionaire, which means we will reach an agreement on the content of the concession contract by the end of this year.

The real challenge is to sort out this contract. Once we have done this, the Joint Undertaking has delivered all what it was established for and then it can close its doors. … We are very much focused on the negotiations. We want to sign the head of terms by the end of the year. This is my main interest.

The negotiations are proving as difficult as expected, and that means very difficult. … We have to prepare a contract for the public side. This must reflect the positive elements for the public side. If we could not achieve a benefit for the taxpayers in Europe, I would not propose to the European decision makers they accept this deal. We will have to see if we can cut a deal which is positive for the owners of the system, i.e., the EU Member States.

Satellite News: How will the Galileo project benefit from all the companies working together?

Grohe: The precondition to approve this merger of the two consortia is they would prove to us that everything being done would be in the public interest. They have provided us with these examples and figures and proposals. We feel it was in the best interests for the two consortia to merge, as we have seen this evidence. We can say today that they are delivering.

Satellite News: Are there any remaining government objections that are holding back the project?

Grohe: We have no actual problems with the member states or the governments right now. What I am concerned about, or what I find not particularly positive, is that most of these governments are still pretty much focused on the realization of the system rather than preparing themselves for the applications of Galileo after the launch. The mindset is still "What is our share of the cake?" in the realization rather than "How can we set up our activities in the best way so that we can really benefit from this infrastructure once it is in place?" I think the attitude was justified for a while, but now we are over that phase. I would really see a different approach as more meaningful now. Galileo will be a highly sophisticated infrastructure. I like to compare it to the Internet. Nobody cares which country is getting access to it. People who are making use of it are developing business models out of that. Then the best ideas will generate business. It has nothing to do with passports or nations.

Satellite News: What is the updated timeline for the project?

Grohe: In the realization of the project, you will see two steps. You will see the [in-orbit validation] constellation and its testing. This should take place at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Then the deployment of the system will follow. This will lead into 2010 and 2011. The system should be operational in 2011. We have an agreed master plan with the bidders for the concession. At the moment, we can’t see any problems that would cause delays to this timeline, but in a sophisticated project you cannot exclude those possibilities. But we don’t see any possible delays today.

Satellite News: What lessons have you learned that you can you pass on to the companies?

Grohe: Firstly, let’s talk about the technical side. We felt comfortable with the capacity and expertise you could find in ESA and the European space industry. They are perfectly prepared to make this project happen. The second aspect is the political dimension. You know Galileo is the first project where ESA and the EC are cooperating. Of course, two different worlds are meeting here. ESA is a scientific organization with clear rules, whereas the EC is representing purely political interests. This combination was quite something to be developed and allow a smooth cooperation. This was one of the main lessons we had to learn — dealing with different environments here.

Secondly, the major thing we had to learn was managing a project of such complexity and magnitude in the form of a public-private partnership. There had never been a European project of that volume and complexity being realized managed in the form of a [public-private partnership]. So, it was an opportunity to learn some lessons.

This project has been pretty demanding to say the least. It has been a real challenge in any respect, so we have had to accept that. I am not sure there are any ways we could have done things differently.

Satellite News: How difficult has it been to manage the cost?

Grohe: The costs have been surprisingly kept under control. We have these additional costs in the [in-orbit validation], but these were additional costs for additional features. When it comes to the costs, we have pretty much controlled the process. What is much more demanding was to translate what had been decided in 2000 and 2001 into a concession contract. I will give you one example. The public side, which is the owner of the system, is an important factor here. The owner of the system has to accept commitment for the full period of the concession. The concession will last 20 years, so we need to have financial commitments as a back-up for the system until 2026-2027. The budget law of the European Commission does not allow this yet. We have to develop financing and law-making tools on the sides of the member states and on the side of the Commission in order to realize that.

Satellite News: Why is it important for Europe to have its own satellite navigation system?

Grohe: I would not translate Galileo into a satellite-navigation system. Of course, it is a satellite-navigation system, but it is a highly sophisticated and capable infrastructure which you can use for satellite-navigation services and other things. I feel to have an infrastructure such as this makes a lot of sense. Secondly, satellite navigation attributes such as tracking have already been proved to have a positive economic impact on the world globally, which is asking for a second system. You need a second system. The other thing to consider is that GPS is a military system, and has its restrictions and constraints such as selective availability for example. There are applications for satellite navigation which you can only realize with a commercial system with a guarantee for availability. This is Galileo, not GPS. We have agreed with the U.S. that we will be compatible, and that we will cooperate in the open signal. You can make a simple conclusion that 60 satellites are better than 30.

Satellite News: What is the overall significance of the Galileo for the European satellite landscape?

Grohe: It has a high political importance. It is the first real technical or scientific project that Europe is doing jointly. When it comes to satellite navigation, it will allow Europe to play the role of the forerunner in applications of all kinds, such as tracking. There will also be applications we have not even thought of which will develop over time. Galileo is a system which has a global coverage with timing signals and which can carry information back and forth. The challenge is to make use of all the features. We know you can use them for all kinds of tracking and navigation, but there may be other options for the system.

Contact: Hans Peter Marchlewski, Galileo Joint Undertaking, e-mail, [email protected]