Europe’s space ministers have given a strong endorsement to ESA’s Navigation and Innovation Support Programme, fostering innovation and competitiveness in the navigation sector, subscribing to its new phase with a significantly enhanced budget.

During ESA’s Space19+ Ministerial Conference held in Seville, Spain on 27-28 November, space ministers from 22 ESA Member States plus cooperating states came together to decide Europe’s future course in space.

Prominent on the agenda was the next phase of ESA’s Navigation and Innovation Support Programme, NAVISP. Building on the successes of Europe’s current EGNOS and Galileo satellite navigation programmes, NAVISP looks to the future of ‘positioning, navigation and timing’ (PNT) beyond those systems, supporting both commercial competitiveness and long term research and development.