Antonio Rodota, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), is delighted that the agency’s member states reached agreement earlier this week on how the Galileo satellite navigation program will proceed. Disputes among countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain had led to numerous delays in getting Galileo off the ground.

Rodota told SATELLITE TODAY: “Europe is sending a very strong and positive message. There is no longer a division among European member states. We are more than pleased about that. We have spent quite a lot of time to reach this agreement.”

An exclusive interview with Antonio Rodota can be found in the June 3 issue of Interspace. For more information about subscribing to PBI Media’s satellite newsletters, check out our Web site at http://www.telecomweb.com/catalog