Munich satellite navigation summit … goes global

The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit (MSNS) 2007 closed on March, 8th – about 400 guests from 28 nations left Munich after three days conferencing. In the run-up of the MSNS the conference advertised with the words: High quality, high rank, high tech, high interaction which was allready fulfilled in the Opening Plenary Panel at the “Allerheiligenhofkirche” of the “Residenz München”.

Prof. Dr. Guenter W. Hein, director of the Institute of Geodesy and Navigation of the University FAF Munich and organiser of the MSNS welcomed everybody to the conference titled “Munich Satellite Navigation Summit. Goes Global”. Matthias Ruete (European Commission, Brussels), Ralph Braibanti (US State Department, USA), Pedro Pedreira (GSA, Brussels), Guiseppe Viriglio GSA, Brussels), Guiseppe Viriglio (ESA, France) and Erwin Huber (Bavarian Department of Transport and Technology) were the panellists of the Opening Plenary Panel. Ruete said that “Munich has become a very particular rendevouz in the world of satellite navigation.” He pointed out that “Galileo has already seen crisis in the past and the way forward has already been found. We need this crisis to find the way to move forward.”

During the following days experts from science, industry and politics discussed the advan-tages and challenges of GNSS and especially of Galileo. After getting updated in the first session, the auditorium could listen to sessions like “Galileo at the crossraods – a debate between the Galileo responsibles”, “Starting, waiting or no interests in Galileo/GNSS ap-plications” or “Do we know more about the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) now?”

Beside the conference 15 organisations and institutions had the opportunity to present themselves or their products on the Summit Exhibition. The exhibition as well as the two evening receptions and many sidemeetings made a successful networking possible. Nevertheless the MSNS 2007 was characterised by many honest appreciations especially concerning the delay on Galileo. One of the highlights at MSNS 2007 was the last session with Thomas Reiter, the German crew member of the ISS. He referred about the 166 days in space and explained the importance of the research work during his time in the shuttle.