Posted: Wed, Mar 19, 2003, 1:43 PM ET (1843 GMT)
The European Commission may begin work on the Galileo satellite navigation system without the cooperation of the European Space Agency if ESA cannot settle a dispute about the distribution of contracts. Space News reported Tuesday that EU vice president Loyola de Palacio, speaking at a Galileo industry conference in Brussels, said that the EU may go ahead with its half of the project so that the project does not miss critical milestones. The EU is planning to award contracts to build a small satellite for launch in 2005 so that it can meet a deadline imposed by international regulators regarding the use of radio frequencies assigned to the system. ESA and the EU are splitting the costs of the development phase of the system, but ESA has yet to reach a settlement between Germany and Italy regarding the distribution of contracts between the two nations. Galileo is designed to compete with the American Global Positioning System (GPS), operated by the Defense Department. Galileo has attracted attention in recent weeks because of concerns that the US military will degrade the accuracy of GPS signals if hostilities begin in Iraq.

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