Europe’s civil satellite navigation constellation, Galileo, which is currently the world’s most precise satnav system, is about to get even more impressive. The Galileo Second Generation (G2) satellites promise to increase navigation accuracy even more, as well as navigation speed, which could revolutionize positioning capabilities of future devices.
The European Commission (EC) awarded 1.47 billion euros ($1.77 billion) to Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence & Space on Tuesday to build and launch Europe's second-generation Galileo satellite positioning system. Thales and Airbus beat out German manufacturer OHB for the contract, and will each produce six