Mr René Oosterlinck, ESA’s Director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities, signed the first three contracts for the Galileo full operational capability phase. This event marks the start of building the Galileo operational infrastructure.

Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President in charge of Transport, has announced the award of three of the six contracts for the procurement of Galileo’s initial operational capability.

Vessel traffic security of Venice lagoon will be guaranteed by SELEX Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica Group Company. Selex has been awarded a contract for the realization of the phase 1 of the Integrated Monitoring Telematic System (STIM) that will enable the vessel movements surveillance of the Venice lagoon and perform, in a security way, the protection barriers that are actually at a realization phase within the MOSE project.

Kourou -French Guiana – The site of a ground station for Galileo, Europe’s global navigation satellite system, inside the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), near Kourou in French Guiana, was inaugurated on 19 November.