Ukraine has aired interest to join the European navigation satellite project Galileo. The project however is facing increasingly competition, EE Times reported.
According to the National Ukrainian broadcast organization NRCU, the president of the Ukrainian national space agency, Olexandr Sintchenko, Thursday (April 23) aired interest in a closer collaboration with the European Space Agency ESA. Besides participating in the Galileo project, he also offered collaboration with regard to the European launch vehicle `Vega`. Vega`s first launch is scheduled for late in 2009. Sintchenko announced to travel to Paris in May in order to meet ESA representatives to discuss the matter.
In the meantime the competition for Galileo is increasing. As recent as April 15, China has launched its second satellite for its Compass navigation system project. The system competes against Galileo in that it will use the same frequency band to transmit its signals which could lead to interferences between both systems. Negotiations between European Community and China regarding the problem so far have been unsuccessful. And Russia is currently pressing ahead to complete its GLONASS system, another competitor to Galileo.
