India part of Galileo
india's participation in a European navigation satellite system and eu backing for India's entry into a consortium of countries that put up an experimental nuclear fusion reactor are major highlights of the recently concluded sixth eu -India summit in New Delhi.
The eu-India pact about India joining the Galileo navigation satellite system, which rivals the us gps system and Russia's glonass system, marked the culmination of talks that had been in progress since January 2004. The 30-satellite constellation, to be in orbit by 2008, aims at contributing to develop agriculture and fisheries, environment monitoring and tracking anything from aircraft to cars. Unlike the other two global tracking systems, it is operated fully by civilians, though it has reserved one channel for military applications.
It is speculated India may pick up about 10 per cent stake in the us $4.3 billion project. But a spokesperson of Indian Space Research Organisation said "the nature of stake and modalities of paying the share will be decided later