Answers to the offers would be made on December 9, she said, without saying which companies were in the running.

Candidate consortia had until midday Friday to make their offers.

EADS Space, Thales and Inmarsat said earlier Friday they had made a joint offer and European satellite operator Eutelsat said it was leading a consortium with LogicaCMG, Hispasat and Aena.

A final decision on the sucessful offer is not expected to be made until the first half of 2004.

The successful consortium is required to arrange private financing for the launch and operational phases but would eventually become the operator of the project.

Galileo, scheduled to be operational by 2008, is designed to encircle the globe with 30 satellites in medium earth orbit, comprising 27 operational satellites and three reserves, plus two control centres on the ground.

It should provide users, ranging from aircraft and shipping to cars and trekkers, with a navigational fix accurate to within just one metre (a little over three feet).

At present, the only global satellite navigation system available to civilians is GPS, but it is accurate only to 100 metres for civilians, or 22 metres for the military, and is under the control of the Pentagon.

Galileo's total development and launch costs are put at around 3.2-3.3 billion euros (3.9-4 billion dollars), with initial running costs from 2008 onwards of around 220 million euros a year.

The consortium that is chosen will have to put up about 1.5 billion euros to become the operator of the system.

SPACE.WIRE