Galileo 'compromise' is emerging

So far, only demonstrator technology has been launched

The European Commission has put forward a new tendering process for the stalled Galileo satellite-navigation project.

No one company will be allowed to win more than two of the six segments of work offered to build the system.

The commission hopes the arrangement will pacify countries such as Germany which wants assurances about the distribution of industrial contracts.

Germany has been holding out against a refinancing of Galileo, which is likely to cost close to 4bn euros (£3bn).

Galileo's planned network of 30 satellites will beam radio signals to receiving devices on the ground, helping users pinpoint their locations and know the precise time. The European system's technologies promise greater accuracy and reliability than is afforded by the current American network (GPS) alone.

GALILEO UNDER CONSTRUCTION A European Commission and European Space Agency project 30 satellites to be launched in batches by end of 2011-12 Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service

But Galileo has been beset with industrial and political squabbling across EU member states, and its timeline has repeatedly slipped as a result. A private consortium charged with building two-thirds of the network collapsed earlier this year, and now the commission is trying to rescue Galileo using public funds.

However, its suggestion of using unused agricultural and administrative funds from within the EU's budget has been opposed by a number of countries - notably Germany.

Friday's new proposal aims to ensure fair competition in the bidding for new contracts, and the German transport Ministry welcomed it as an acceptable compromise.

A large order for spacecraft must be placed very soon with contractors if Galileo is to keep to its present 2011-12 target for full operational deployment.

A final decision on funding could come from the EU leaders at a mid-December summit in Brussels.

"If we don't have a clear agreement before the end of the year, then this would mean that we will have to put an end to our efforts because this would be clearly too late," a spokesman for EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.

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Deal signed for 'super-satellite'

The Alphasat I-XL spacecraft will probably fly in 2013

British engineers have been asked to build the payload for what will become one of the biggest commercial telecoms satellites ever launched.

London-based Inmarsat has signed a contract with industrialists to construct the Alphasat I-XL mission.

The six-tonne satellite will deliver high-bandwidth services, such as mobile internet, to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

It will have five times the capacity of current space platforms.

Inmarsat will use Alphasat I-XL to support its huge I-4 satellites, which deliver the company's global broadband network, BGan.

The spacecraft allow people to set up virtual offices anywhere around the world - on land or at sea. Users get half-a-megabit connections through small, laptop-sized terminals. Customers include business travellers, disaster relief workers, journalists, and people in the petrochemical and maritime industries.

World competition

The Alphasat I-XL mission has emerged from a technology programme overseen by the European and French space agencies (Esa and Cnes).

The Alphabus project was set up to develop a next-generation satellite that would allow European industry to compete at the top of the global market - especially with the products coming out of the US aerospace industry.

In certain locations, satellite is the only means of communication

The Alphasat I-XL will be the first spacecraft to be lofted using the Alphabus model. In essence, Inmarsat is the first commercial customer.

The spacecraft will incorporate an advanced new digital signal processor developed by EADS Astrium. The payload, or "brains" of the spacecraft, will be made at the company's Stevenage and Portsmouth centres.

Manufacture of the spacecraft's chassis and final assembly will take place at Astrium's other European facilities - and those of its key partner in the project, Thales Alenia Space.

"This satellite will access additional spectrum and it will be able to supply approximately five times the communications capacity of a single Inmarsat 4 satellite," said Dave Robson from Astrium.

"With advances we've made, we've been able to pack an awful lot more electronics within the existing volume. It is a technology step forward in terms of the brains of the satellite which is built in the UK."

Even bigger

Alphasat I-XL features a 12m aperture antenna reflector. It will have an electrical power of 12kW and a design lifetime of 15 years. The Alphabus model, though, allows for even bigger spacecraft to be made in the future, supporting missions that have a launch mass of more than eight tonnes and 18kW payload power.

These can use novel systems such as ion engines, which are more efficient than chemical thrusters in maintaining the orbit or a spacecraft over extended periods.

With their new technology and greater power, Alphabus-type missions will be able to handle more traffic at higher bandwidths.

"We believe that the new satellite will have better beam-forming capabilities and that, therefore, we should be able to put more capacity into areas; and we should be able to increase speeds," commented Inmarsat spokesman Chris McLaughlin.

"An Inmarsat BGan terminal is the size of a coffee-table book. It may well be that the Alphasat with its new processors will be able to reduce that further."

Although urbanised centres will always have superior wired communications, satellite-delivered services may be the only solution in more remote or temporary locations.

One of the world's most powerful rockets will be needed to launch a satellite of I-XL's size - something comparable to a bus or small truck. As a flagship European mission, the task of lofting Alphasat I-XL may well fall to the European bloc's premier launch vehicle, the Ariane 5 ECA. A flight is being targeted for 2013.

Inmarsat expects its investment in the satellite - excluding insurance - will be in the region of 260m euros (£190m). The Alphabus project represents an expenditure of 440m euros (£320m) by 16 Esa Member States.

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