The European Space Agency will be joining forces with the European
Commission in a major contribution to GNSS 2002, the sixth in a series of
international conferences devoted to global satellite navigation systems,
to be held in Copenhagen from 27 to 30 May 2002.

This European conference on navigation, organised by the Nordic Institute
of Navigation, will offer a series of talks, debates and exhibitions
centring on satellite navigation in today’s and tomorrow’s world. The
European Space Agency and the European Commission will be contributing to
the programme of talks and also to the industrial exhibition, where they
will be jointly hosting a stand devoted to Galileo, the first civil
satellite navigation and positioning system, given the go-ahead at the
meeting of the European Union Transport Council on 26 March this year.

GNSS 2002 will be a valuable opportunity to report on just how matters
stand with this strategic programme – and experts from both the Agency and
the Commission will be on hand to deal with questions from journalists
attending the conference.

Developed by ESA in collaboration with the European Union and co-funded by
the two organisations on a 50-50 basis, Galileo is a complete civil
system, designed to be operational from 2008 and to provide the world in
general and Europeans in particular with an accurate, secure and certified
satellite positioning system.

There are many potential applications in road, rail, air and maritime
traffic control, synchronisation of data transmission between banks, etc.,
and the economic implications for the coming 15 years are tremendous, with
an estimated 4.6 return on investment and the creation of more than 100
000 jobs.

GNSS 2 will be held at the Radisson SAS Falconer* Centre, ENC GNSS 2002
Conference, ESA-EC Stand No 30-35, Falkoner Alle 9, located close to the
historic heart of Copenhagen.
(www.gnss2002.com).

For further information, please contact :

ESA, Bureau des Relations avec les medias
Franco Bonacina

Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155

Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

Dominique Detain

ESA Applications Directorate

Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7726