Galileo and the Issue of Public Funding

Abstract

In the Yearbook on Space Policy 2006/2007, Serge Plattard presented a complete summary of the evolution of the Galileo programme since it was induced in the late 1990s.³³⁰ It provided a clear analysis of the encountered problems and included useful chronologies and tables. This paper will pick up where he left off by presenting the dramatic recovery of the programme since summer 2007 — how the funding and governance of the programme were fixed, how this may affect future European programmes and how meanwhile, development of the technology for Galileo has been progressing. In addition, the paper will explore a wider issue touched by Galileo, that of the public funding of space programmes. Most space programmes rely to some degree on public money for setting up primary space and ground segments. The idea behind this is that space programmes will later on become profitable and be taken over by the private sector. Yet how efficient is this financing model, and why do governments continue to fund space if it is not?