N° 55–2022: Invitation to Media: Accelerating leadership in future satellite navigation

3 November 2022

Media representatives are invited to a virtual press meeting and Q&A session with ESA’s Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto on 9 November at 14.00 CET, to discuss ESA Navigation’s new proposals for the future.

ESA has been pioneering satellite navigation since the 1980s, joining forces with the European Commission in the following decade to ensure European sovereignty in this crucial strategic, technological, and commercial sector. By 2016 two satellite navigation systems were running initial services:

Galileo, Europe’s own global navigation satellite system (GNSS), relays navigation signals worldwide to more than three billion users for positioning services, while also supporting search and rescue operations.
EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, improves the precision and integrity of GPS (and soon also Galileo) signals across our continent, specifically for civil aviation and other activities where lives can be protected.

The success of GNSS & the rise of PNT

The worldwide satellite navigation market of devices, applications and services is worth about €150 billion per year and caters to a total of 6.5 billion receivers around the world. By 2031, it is expected that there will be 10 billion receivers. This makes GNSS the largest spinoff transfer of space technology and it’s getting bigger, with expected growth of 10% annually over the coming decade. Global GNSS downstream market revenues are expected to reach €492 billion by 2031.

Accelerating European leadership on future trends

What comes next? With both Galileo and EGNOS delivering excellent performance, ESA was entrusted by the European Commission with the development of the next generation Galileo and EGNOS systems. Beyond satellite navigation on Earth, navigation services are being developed for future lunar exploration missions. At the next Council at Ministerial level in November, ESA will work towards reinforcing the future capabilities of satellite navigation by introducing FutureNAV and fostering commercialisation in PNT through its Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, NAVISP.

Program

14:00 The future capabilities of satellite navigation
14:20 Q&A with media
14.45 interviews in French
15.00 Interviews in Spanish
15.15 Interviews in Italian

Speaker: Javier Benedicto, ESA Director of Navigation.

Other ESA representatives from the Navigation directorate will also join the meeting and Q&A session.

Media Registration

The press meeting will be held online via Teams and journalists will have an opportunity to ask questions live. The briefing will be conducted in English, with dedicated interview possibilities also in French, Spanish and Italian.

Journalists who would like to attend the meeting need to register using this form no later than Monday, November 7.
https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form/

If you have further questions, please contact media@esa.int.

For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly spaceinimages@esa.int

Videos

Navigation at CM22:
Navigation: What’s on the table for CM22?

ESA Videos:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Terms and conditions for using ESA videos:
https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly spaceinvideos@esa.int

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For further information

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – Bernhard von Weyhe
Email: media@esa.int
Tel: +33 153 697 504

Program

Media Registration

Additional Information

Social media

Images

Videos

About the European Space Agency

For further information