European Satellite Navigation

It is hard to imagine daily life today without satellite navigation. During the last decade Europe’s Galileo constellation has grown to become the world’s most precise satellite navigation system, delivering metrescale positioning accuracy to more than two billion users worldwide. A joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, there are sufficient Galileo satellites in space to be visible in the local sky from anywhere on Earth, supported by a world-spanning ground segment.

A second European satellite system called EGNOS – the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service – boosts the accuracy and reliability of satnav signals across European territory, benefiting aviation among other safety-of-life and general users.

ESA’s NAVISP programme is meanwhile looking beyond Galileo through the development of novel ‘positioning, navigation and timing’ technologies and services, providing a crucial competitive boost to European industry.