The loan for use agreement was signed by Alfredo Castiglione, councillor for productive activities and vice-president of the Regione Abruzzo; Lucio Magliozzi, chief operating officer of Telespazio; and Daniele Antinarella, extraordinary commissioner of the consortium for the industrial development of Avezzano, which built the infrastructure. The control centre for the Galileo constellation and mission, co-financed by the Abruzzo region, covers an area of around 5,000 square metres, and was built thanks to a framework agreement signed in December 2005 between the Abruzzo region and Finmeccanica, aimed at encouraging the development and growth of industry in Abruzzo. The subsequent agreement signed in January 2007 between the region, the consortium for the industrial development of Avezzano and Telespazio, allowed work to begin and the infrastructure to be built on schedule.
With the formal handover of the control centre, Telespazio will begin cabling the entire structure and will then proceed with the installation and integration of the systems and equipment required by the control system for the satellite constellation and mission. More particularly, work will begin on the areas dedicated to security, navigation signal generation systems, orbital management and atomic clocks (precise time facility or PTF). The control centre is expected to be fully operational and will be inaugurated in autumn 2009.
