Ready, Set, Go! The 2009 European Satellite Navigation Competition is open for ideas

Submit the best idea for a brand new satellite navigation application or device and you just might win the 2009 Galileo Master's Award - €20,000 in prize money and lots of support to make your idea a reality.

But that's not your only chance - you can try for one of the eight special topic prizes or one of the 17 different regional prizes, together worth €500,000 in cash and start-up assistance.

The competition began six years ago in Bavaria, Germany, but it has expanded to include many other regions of Europe as well as Australia, Israel, and Taiwan.

OREGIN, Galileo Services Join Forces

Galileo Services and OREGIN — the two most active organizations representing companies in the GNSS industry, particularly Europe’s Galileo program — have decided to join forces.

EC Proposes Big Changes for GSA within Galileo Program

A proposal now before the European Parliament and Council of the European Union would complete the transformation of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) from the leading executive agency for the Galileo program into a diminished subsidiary of the European Commission (EC).

Septentrio Receivers Track L5, Other SVN49 Signals

Septentrio reports success in tracking five signals being transmitted from the modernized GPS Block IIR satellite with the L5 demonstration payload launched on March 24.

Now designated space vehicle number 49 (SVN49), the satellite began broadcasting in the L1 and L2 band on March 28, shortly after the spacecraft reached its quasi-circular middle earth sorbit.

Congress, U.S. Trade Rep Seek Public Comment on Access to Galileo Markets

Prompted by a congressional footnote in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed into law last month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is soliciting public comment on American industry’s access to the Galileo program and related markets.

China Launches Second Compass (Beidou-2) Satellite in $1.46 Billion First Phase

Launch of a second modernized Compass (Beidou 2) satellite on April 14 — this one a geostationary spacecraft — marks the return of China to its GNSS launch program two years after the initial venture into space.

Designated Compass G2 — reflecting the geostationary nature of its intended orbital position about 22,300 miles above the equator, the satellite lifted off at 16:16 UTC aboard a Long March 3C rocket from the Xichang launch base in southwestern China's Sichuan province, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

European Court of Auditors Lambastes Galileo Satellite Navigation Program

Here's an interesting document: Preliminary observations on “The management of the Galileo programme’s development and validation phase,” adopted at its January 21–22 meeting by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

If you're the kind of person who wakes up in a strange room after a night on the town and wonders how you got there, you’ll want to take in the full 50-page report and six addenda.

What Race? What Competition? The Four GNSS Systems

Munich’s high-level satnav summit the first week in March opened with a plenary titled, “The Worldwide Race in GNSS” and closed with a panel, “The Competition among the Big Four.”

Despite the provocative session titles, few speakers were willing to admit that either a race or a competition was under way in the GNSS world.

GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass: What GNSS Race? What Competition

(This story appears in the "GNSS World" department in the March-April 2009 issue of Inside GNSS.)

Munich’s high-level satnav summit the first week in March opened with a plenary titled, “The Worldwide Race in GNSS” and closed with a panel, “The Competition among the Big Four.”

Munich Summit Highlights Satellite Navigation Plans, GNSS Program Struggles

Highlights of the 2009 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit (March 3- 5): Russia will place its first CDMA signal on the GLONASS L3 frequency that overlaps the European Galileo E5b spectrum; China plans to launch three Compass satellites this year and seven more next year to provide a regional capability for Compass/Beidou, followed by completion of the full 30-MEO, 5-GEO constellation after 2015 and before 2020; Galileo program discussions revealed tensions around negotiations with China about a frequency overlay of Compass signals on the security-oriented Public Regulated Service as well as the question of whether the costs to build Galileo can be kept within the €3.4-billion limit agreed by the European Council and the European Parliament; the GPS Block IIR-20(M) satellite with an L5 demonstration payload will be launched later this month in what may be the program's last chance to secure primary GPS access to the frequency.