By the end of January Galileo’s first satellite was undergoing testing at ESA’s technical centre in The Netherlands, checking its readiness to be launched into orbit. This marks a significant step for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation constellation.

The first part of Europe’s global satellite navigation system is due to be
launched over the next two years ? a total of four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites. The following four years to 2015 will see Galileo brought up to its first operational configuration of 18 satellites in medium Earth orbit.