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Paris, 14 April 2003
Press Release
Nx 25-2003

ESA at GNSS 2003 in Graz: highlights on Satellite Navigation for
Europe 

The European Space Agency will be joining forces with the European
Commission in a major contribution to GNSS 2003, the seventh in a
series of international conferences devoted to global satellite
navigation systems, to be held in Graz, Austria, from 22 to 24 April.

This European conference, organised by the Austrian Institute of
Navigation (OVN), will offer a series of talks, debates and
exhibitions centring on satellite navigation in today's and
tomorrow's world. ESA and the 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 satellite navigation in
Europe at which Galileo, the first civil satellite navigation and
positioning system, and EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation
Overlay Service, will be on display. 

GNSS 2003 will be a valuable opportunity to report on 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 cooperation 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.

EGNOS is the European Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), a
joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA), the European
Commission (EC) and Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the
Safety of Air Navigation. It is Europe’s contribution to the first
stage of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and is a
precursor to Galileo, the full global satellite navigation system
under development in Europe. Satellite navigation has many potential
applications in road, rail, air and maritime traffic control,
synchronisation of data transmission between banks, etc., and the
economic potential over the coming 15 years is tremendous, with an
estimated 4.6 return on investment and the creation of more than
100 000 jobs.

GNSS 2003 will be held at the Convention Centre, Grazer Congress,
located in the historic heart of Graz, cultural capital of Europe for
2203. More information at: http://www.gnss2003.com

For further information, please contact: 
ESA, Media Relations Service
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

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