Satellite navigation has become an indispensable part of everyday life. Until recently, only the - formerly military - GPS of the United States was available. Europe is building its own satellite navigation system called Galileo to reduce dependency on GPS.
The costs of Galileo are beyond the available space budgets of the ESA Member States. Therefore, in view of the major societal, economic and strategic importance of Galileo, the European Commission has decided to arrange European funding for it.
Besides Galileo, there is EGNOS, a satellite system that supplements the services of GPS for Europe. ESA has concluded agreements about the development and production of the European navigation system Galileo. In addition, an agreement has been reached for the further development of EGNOS and Galileo. The responsibility for exploiting both systems rests with GSA.
The ESA Member States have insight in ESA's navigation programmes via the Navigation Programme Council. In this council, the Netherlands is represented by NSO.
Further information about Galileo, EGNOS and other satellite systems is available here.