Galileo: Sat-Nav of the Future
Galileo could be used to help detect natural disasters

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Galileo is the future of Satellite Navigation and has increased accuracy by timing signals rather than focusing on the positioning. Galileo was announced in 2001 but has yet to launch but should be in full flow by 2012, with the EU having 30 of its own satellites in orbit by 2010.

Galileo is currently entered into a competition that looks at developing businesses and the winner will win cash to be used to launch the business. Galileo will be a winning company if it can show that the ideas are new and user friendly and also if there is a market out there that will pay for the service.

This system could have further use by being able to predict natural disasters and oil tracking.  Galileo will enable scientists to track beneath the surface of the earth's surface to look for oil reserves and also will help to know when t stop collecting oil in a certain area. In the future it may help to predict natural disasters by detecting changes in the speed of sound when the earth compresses before an earthquake.

What is the future for Galileo? The EC wants Galileo to be fully independent of any other technological assistance. The EC hopes that Galileo will be a vital piece of civilian infrastructure. However it is likely that we will see a situation of GPS and Galileo joining forces in the future.