[Satellite TODAY Insider 05-25-11] The launch of the first two operational satellites of the EU’s global navigation system, Galileo will take place on Oct. 20, the European Commission has confirmed. The Galileo program is the EU’s initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, aiming to provide a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control.

     The two Galileo satellites will be deployed using a Soyuz launcher. The October launch will mark the inaugural Soyuz flight from its new launch facilities in French Guiana. The launch of the Galileo satellites at an altitude of 23.600km will lead to the provision of initial satellite navigation services in 2014. Successive launches will complete the constellation by 2019.

     The European Space Agency (ESA) also announced in the last few days that it has inaugurated the most northerly node in its worldwide network of Galileo ground stations. Svalbard is positioned more than 78 degrees North, less than a thousand kilometers from the North Pole. Located on Spitsbergen, the largest island of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, the Svalbard Satellite Station — SvalSat for short — already serves as a ground station to numerous polar-orbiting Earth observation missions, including ESA’s Envisat and ERS-2.

     The launch of the two Galileo satellites will be a major milestone for the Galileo project, one that has cost Europe billions of Euros, and has been one of the most talked about topics in the European space industry for years. In a recent interview with Satellite News, EC Vice President and Commissioner Antonio Tajani said despite the escalating costs of the Galileo program, there was still a strong economic justification for the program. “It is estimated that already 6 to 7 percent of the EU GDP, or 800 billion euros ($1.06 trillion), rely on satellite navigation applications. Satellite navigation applications have become more important in our daily lives, including for public services such as the police or emergency medical services. It is estimated that Galileo has the potential to generate additional economic and social benefits of between 60 billion and 90 billion euros ($81.47 billion and $122.2 billion) for the EU economy in terms of downstream applications and upstream markets and in terms of positive externalities in the period 2010 to 2027,” he said.