Last December, the European Commission and several ministers of the Federal and Walloon government gathered to inaugurate the Galileo ILS Centre (Galileo Integrated Logistics Support Centre) in the business park Galaxia, located in Transinne. This proves that Wallonia is very active in the conquest of space.
The GALAXIA business park, developed by IDELUX in partnership with WSL, offers a unique concept since it hosts only companies active in the space field. That’s why Galileo ILS Centre is established there. It is a logistic support centre dedicated to the European satellite navigation programme, GALILEO, the new European GPS. This centre’s purpose is to anticipate and to manage all failures of the ground station equipment.
Indeed, for GALILEO programme to offer a flawless service, 26 ground stations continuously ensure perfect communication with the 30 satellites in orbit around the Earth. 20 specialists in telecommunication, computer, electric and robotics engineering work on it. Not to mention the 30 indirect jobs, future employees and a team of 5 people from the GSA (European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency) who will work there.
This is a nice demonstration of trust for Belgium since less than one year after its launch around 100 million people already use the European GPS, GALILEO. This means 100 million receivers in use; smartphones, electric cars, connected tools … This project was launched by the European Commission in order to reduce European’s dependence on the American GPS.
Another proof of the Walloon know-how; is Vitrociset Belgium, a young Belgian subsidiary of the Italian Vitrociset group, that was chosen to manage the logistics support operations. Indeed, the company already has a good reputation in ground-based satellite control, since it has gained experience over the last 25 years at the European Space Agency (ESA) Redu site. Vitrociset Belgium is therefore responsible for the design, manufacture and maintenance of equipment specially used by ground control stations throughout the world for the GALILEO programme. The company also offers support to companies present on the GALAXIA site.
