Galileo is the GNSS initiative jointly developed by the European Community and the European Space Agency (ESA). It has been named after the Italian astrophysicist who revolutionized the study of motion.

Other countries involved in the program are India, Israel, Morocco, Saudi, Ukraine, South Korea, Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, USA and China

The Galileo system will be interoperable with Navstar and GLONASS, providing a highly accurate service under civilian control. The fully deployed system will include 30 satellites with 3 as spares. The constellation will operate at a height around 23,000km with inclination of 56degrees to the equator.

The accuracy delivered by this system will be down to the meter range, a benefit not delivered by the existing systems. Galileo will be available under any circumstances and will inform users within seconds of any satellite failure. Thus it will suit applications for running trains, landing aircrafts and even collision avoidance.

Galileo will also provide a Search and Rescue function. Every satellite will be equipped with a transponder that would transfer distress signals from the users to a central control. A response would be generated that the situation has been detected and help is arriving.

Along with surveillance, geographic, and emergency services, Galileo will also provide applications to agriculture, civil protection, telecom, finance and environment.
Galileo has co-operated with South America for the development of the region. Progress is on The Celeste Project and The Flare Project to monitor aspects like farming, freight and fishing.

The Galileo system will alone generate 1,50,000 fresh new jobs in EU.