Galileo will be located in Toulouse

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the headquarters of Galileo Global Positioning System project will be located in Toulouse.

GJU - the representative of the European Commission (EU) and the European Space Agency said that in June 2005, the agency directed InavSat and Eurely - two agencies in charge of this project. , need to build in Europe an American GPS-equivalent system.

InavSat is made up of European company EADS, French company Thalès, British company Inmarsat. Eurely is a combination of Alcatel of France, Finmeccanica of Italy, Spanish corporations AENA and Hispasat.

Many cities wish to become Galileo's headquarters are Munich, Rome or Barcelone. Toulouse has become an important area of ​​France and Europe in the field of space with the presence of CNES, Alcatel Alenia Space or Astrium. Galileo's operations here will create 100 to 150 new jobs in a short time and can be maintained for a long time.

Galileo Global Positioning System includes 30 satellites located an average of 24,000 km from the earth. Five exploration stations will transmit data about two European underground control centers.

Launched in 2008 or earlier, Galileo will have the same caliber as the US GPS and Russia's GLONASS.

ESA prepares to introduce 2 test satellites of Galileo, GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B systems. GIOVE-A leaves the ESA research center in the Netherlands on November 29 and arrives at the airport in Baïkonour, Kazakhstan where it will start in December. GIOVE-B will also be launched next year.