News

Ionospheric effects can be a major source of disruption to GNSS signals, so it is important to be able to predict and compensate for these disturbances. With this in mind, the European Commission-funded Galileo Ionosphere Prediction Service (IPS) monitors ionospheric activity and informs GNSS users in good time of an upcoming event that could disrupt GNSS signals and applications.

We are pleased to announce the release of the new Galileo Open Service Signal in Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD v2.0). This second issue of the document is available for download in the Programme Reference Documents section of the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) web portal.

Users in the surveying community, among others, are benefiting from Galileo accuracy in the latest GNSS receivers from Javad, which are able to track all available Galileo signals. Thanks to the increased resistance to multipath and advanced signal design, Galileo capability makes the receivers particularly suitable for work in challenging environments.

We have kept you waiting long enough! The projects selected for acceleration in Track 1 and Track 2 of the #MyGalileoSolution competition have been confirmed. The 30 Track 1 projects and the 20 selected for Track 2 were chosen from over 200 applications and will share the almost EUR 1.5-million prize pool.

2020 has been a challenging year, yet thanks to the dedication of the GSA team and our cooperation with the European Commission, ESA, Member States, industry (upstream and downstream) and with our colleagues and stakeholders throughout Europe, we have managed to continue to deliver secure EGNOS and Galileo services to an increasing number of users around the globe.

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has launched a call for expressions of interest to set up a database of Venture Capital Entities (VCs) interested in investing in European innovative companies working in the downstream space domain. The goal is to allow start-ups and SMEs in the downstream space segment to connect with investors that may be interested in their products.

Stakeholders from around Europe and the world gathered online on 7-12 December to attend this year’s edition of European Space Week. Despite the constraints put in place by the Coronavirus pandemic, the event was a great success, with over 3000 participants involved in the discussions, plenaries, consultation platforms and award ceremonies that took place during the week.

One of the highlights of Day 3 of European Space Week was the Investors Forum, which brought start-ups/SMEs from a wide range of business backgrounds together with investors interested in innovative EU space technology. In total, 10 start-ups presented their ideas to the panel of investors.

The latest upgrades carried out on the SAR/Galileo Local User Terminals of Spain, Cyprus and Norway, earlier in the summer are helping the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme transition towards MEOSAR completion.

A session on Horizon 2020 success stories, held on the final day of European Space Week, highlighted some of the innovative projects that took advantage of EU H2020 funding to develop ideas leveraging Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, or synergies between the programmes, to produce products for the market. The session included some valuable advice for anyone thinking about applying for funding.