Celeste: Galileo's 'daughter mission'

Since 2011, Europe has been building a world-class satellite navigation system that now serves five billion users worldwide: Galileo. Europe’s independent satnav constellation takes its name from the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, paying tribute to his achievements not only in the field of astronomy but also navigation. Years later, Galileo is expanding with the arrival of a new, Low Earth Orbit layer of satellites: Celeste.

The name is a symbolic wink to the scientific past on which satellite navigation is founded. Named after Maria Celeste, Galileo’s daughter – with whom he shared a strong emotional and intellectual bond – Celeste is designed to enhance Galileo’s resilience and complement its capabilities, for added resilience and strengthened European navigation.