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Satellite Communications GALILEO: 2008 or The European Union is on track to start its own satellite navigation and positioning system, Galileo, as it was earlier this year announced that the Council of Transport Ministers released the $44 million needed to develop Galileo, and at the same time adopted the regulation establishing the joint undertaking responsible for operating it. Galileo is being developed as a com- mercial alternative to the U.S. GPS sys- tem, and tentatively is scheduled to be up and running by 2008. While markets are varied, and much of the advantages are touted in terms of savings to the air- lines, the maritime sector, including off- shore oil and gas exploration, has been targeted as a major market for the pro- ject. The $3.1-billion Galileo project, which has been developed in conjunc- tion with the European Space Agency, will enable users to accurately deter- mine their positions in time and space at any given time, via a constellation of 30 Medium Earth Orbit satellites. The push is on to commence service by 2008, a date which seems achievable at this time, as GPS III is expected to com- mence operation by 2010. "Europe has finally taken the political decision to launch this strategic pro- gram. Today we are seeing the creative side of Europe," declared Mrs. Lovola de Palacio, the Commission Vice-president responsible for transport and energy. "It will help Europe to maintain its autonomy, its sovereignty, its technological capacity and control of its knowledge," she con- cluded. More than a Satellite System In the 1980s, the United States devel- oped the satellite navigation system known as GPS (Global Positioning Sys- tem), initially for military purposes. Interest in its civil applications grew quickly, and today GPS — replaced, in certain areas, by the Russian GLONASS system, also of military origin — is used for navigation by an increasing number of sailors, aviators, and car drivers. A system made in Europe "Europe's dependence on these two external, mili- tary systems over which it has no control places it at a disadvantage," explains Matthias Ruete, director of the Trans- European Networks for Transport pro- gram. "Their links with defense priori- ties provide no guarantee of develop- ment and dependability for the future. But this future is crucial in determining the development of an integrated Euro- pean transport sector. Added-value ser- vices and equipment linked to the growth of navigation systems could rep- resent a market worth Euro 35 billion in the next decade and generate large num- bers of skilled jobs." (1) In short, the Galileo project is seen as important for European political inter- ests as it is for commercial viability and real market need. While the system will undoubtedly offer new products and ser- vices that will be embraced by shipping and offshore oil productions ever increasing need for timely, accurate positioning information, Galileo is viewed by politicians as a critical sys- tem in the event that the U.S. and Russ- ian systems were pulled away for their intended purpose, that being military applications. While Galileo will compete with the GPS system, it will also be designed to complement it. "The Galileo project sets out to be per- fectly compatible and redundant with GPS. The dovetailing of the two systems will make the whole more solid and more reliable," said Mrs. Loyola de Palacio, "and it will help to prevent a monopoly situation and give everyone a choice." Galileo is Coming: Jump On The European Commission will orga- nize in Brussels at the beginning of October 2002 an information day for enterprises wishing to participate in the Galileo program. Representatives from the Commission, the Galileo Joint Undertaking, ESA and from a consul- tant will inform enterprises on the development of the program, the steps leading to the choice of the future con- cessionaire and the numerous services based on satellite radio navigation. Simultaneous translation will allow for speeches in French, German and Eng- lish. (I) CREDIT: © European Communities, 2000-2005 [Research strategy Galileo: the challenge of autonomy], in RTD- Info, Magazine for European Research, No. 25, February 2000, [ http.V/europa. eu. int/comm/research/rtd info/en/25/03. html.] So Many STCW Regulations, So Little Time! RTM STAR Center is the maritime industry's STCW '95 Training Center of Excellence. 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