Press Release: Commission awards final contracts making Galileo a reality

The final two contracts, out of six, for Galileo, Europe’s global navigation satellite programme will be signed at 16.00 by the European Space Agency on behalf of the European Commission at the prestigious Le Bourget Aerospace Fair in Paris on 22 June 2011.

The combined valued of the two contracts is €355 million. The contract signed with Thales Alenia Space (FR), for a value of €281 million, ensures the formatting of navigation information for broadcast by the satellites. The contract signed with Astrium (UK), for a value of €73.5 million concerns the "housekeeping" of the satellites including the maintenance and correct positioning of the satellites in orbit. Signature of these contracts is essential for the deployment and provision of three initial services by Galileo in 2014: