Posted: Thu, Oct 9, 2003, 9:51 AM ET (1351 GMT)
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced Wednesday that it will work with ESA on the Galileo satellite navigation system. Under the agreement signed between the CSA and ESA on October 7, Canada will pay ESA C$11 million (US$8.2 million) to participate in the development and validation phase of the program. In turn, Canadian companies will be able to compete for Galileo contracts during this phase. The agreement is the second cooperative agreement reached in as many months: in September China agreed to participate in Galileo, and may eventually contribute a share of the funding for the overall project. Galileo will be a constellation of 30 satellites that will provide navigation services similar to the American GPS system.
