Posted: Sun, Jun 27, 2004, 1:23 PM ET (1723 GMT)
The United States and the European Union signed an agreement Saturday that assures that the their separate satellite navigation systems, GPS and Galileo, will be interoperable and not interfere with one another. The agreement, finalized earlier in the week, was signed Saturday during a US-EU summit in Ireland. The agreement, finalized earlier in the week, makes the two systems interoperable, effectively doubling the number of satellites that will be available to users and correspondingly increasing accuracy. The agreement also ensures that the Galileo system, scheduled to be deployed by 2008, will not interfere with military or civilian bands of the existing GPS system or its planned future upgrades.

Related Links:

•  BBC article
•  New Scientist article
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  AFP article
•  Press Association article