Media is cordially invited to witness this significant event on December 13 at SSC Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. To confirm your attendance please contact Johanna Bergstrom-Roos at [email protected] , tel + 46 (0)980 72024 or
+46 (0)70 544 60 21.

Programme
10.00 The inauguration starts with a Saint Lucia parade
10.20 *EU’s presentation on European Satellite Navigation Systems
*ESA’s presentation on Galileo
SSC’s presentation
11.15 Transportation to the Galileo Site
11.30 Inauguration ceremony
12.00 Time for interviews

Photo and film
Photographing and filming is allowed before and after the ceremony during the presentations and the interviews. For security reasons, the ceremony will be photographed and filmed by SSC and distributed to media directly after the event.

About Galileo and SSC’s role
Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation system is becoming a reality. Two precursor satellites are already in orbit and the first four operational satellites are being prepared for launch.

One of the most northerly of the ground stations needed to monitor the Galileo constellation is based at Kiruna in Sweden, 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, on site of Esrange Space Center. This location is a perfect complement to the equatorial stations, ensuring continuous coverage for the exchange of data between the ground and satellites in orbit.

The Swedish Space Corporation initially proposed hosting a station at this site in 2005. Now the Galileo Telemetry, Tracking and Command station at Kiruna is a reality, and ready to start operations.

* EU and ESA (European Space Agency) is in charge of the Galileo mission together and SSC is supporting the mission with series of services.