[Satellite TODAY 09-23-10] The Norwegian government signed a cooperation agreement with the European Union (EU) to provide hardware and polar ground stations for the EU’s future Galileo satellite positioning system program, EU officials announced Sept. 22.
    Norway, which is a member of the European Space Agency but does not belong to the EU, will contribute 70 million euros ($91 million) in funding to Galileo and will voice support for Galileo radio spectrum efforts at international regulatory agencies.
   Norway also will be responsible for building and maintaining two Galileo ground stations. One of the stations will be built on Norway’s Svalbard Island in the Arctic and the other will be located on Norwegian Antarctic Territory.
   The 30-satellite Galileo constellation aims to provide positioning, navigation and timing services to European commercial, government and military users. The constellation’s initial satellites are scheduled to be in orbit by 2014.