Taxpayers face €1.2bn bill for Galileo

The European taxpayer will be asked to bail out Galileo as its private builders have refused to take on the risk of the unproven technology.
An eight-member consortium is expected to fail to meet a deadline of 10 May 2007 to sign a contract to build Galileo, European diplomats said, leaving little option but for the public sector to press ahead – or to cancel the project.

European Commission: DG Energy and Transport: Galileo http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm

European Space Agency: Galileo http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html

Wikipedia: Galileo positioning system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_positioning_system

BBC News, 8.5.07: Galileo system 'in a deep crisis' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6634285.stm

BBC News, 11.5.07: Galileo firms miss key deadline http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6644697.stm

BBC News, 16.5.07: Taxpayers 'should build Galileo' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6660629.stm

European Commission: Press Release: IP/07/675: Galileo at the crossroads: implementing the European satellite radio navigation programmes http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/675&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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