In a resolution on GALILEO, European Parliament expresses deep concern about the slowing down of negotiations for the franchise contract feared the increasing overall costs. "GALILEO should be fully operational by 2011. Parliament is "deeply concerned by the fact that the concession negotiations have been at a standstill for several months". MEPs "overwhelmingly" support the clear mandate given to Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Galileo Programme, to submit to the June Council: a credible roadmap for coming to contractual conclusions as soon as possible, possible solutions for securing the long-term financial obligations, a scenario for the earliest possible provision of EGNOS satellite navigation services, and alternative scenarios for the realisation of the programme, especially for costs, risk and affordability. www.europarl.europa.eu

Septentrio has been granted a license by the European Space Agency (ESA) to supply Galileo receivers to customers world-wide. These multi-frequency receivers include GeNeRx, that was the first model ever to receive Galileo signals from space. It is the core receiver used in ESA's network of 13 Galileo Experimental Sensor Stations (GESS), deployed world wide, that is used to perform in-orbit validation of GIOVEA, Europe's first navigation satellite, and to secure the Galileo frequencies.

LynuxWorks, Inc., USA has been selected to provide the real-time operating system (RTOS) for the European Space Agency's Galileo project. This validates its unique approach to safety-critical systems and builds on the company's two decades of innovation and leadership in embedded and real-time technologies. As part of the core element of the Galileo system, LynxOS-178, RTOS to receive Reusable Software Component (RSC) acceptance for reusability from the FAA for DO- 178B certification, will provide enhanced capabilities for communications across various devices and operating systems both on the ground and in space. www.lynuxworks.com

This year's Galileo Masters competition opens on 1 May and will remain open for submissions until 31 July 2007.

The Application Center Ltd. Oberpfaffenhofen, together with the Munich International Trade Fair and its business-to-business trade fair SYSTEMS, are searching for the Galileo Masters 2007. This European satellite navigation competition, which began in 2004, is run under the patronage of the Bavarian Ministry for Economics, Transport, and Technology and supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and ESA through its Technology Transfer Programme (TTP). Its aim is to encourage small enterprises in participating European regions to come up with new ideas for satellite navigation applications. www.esa.int