The European Commission has rolled out the competition to give names to the Galileo satellites constellation. Children aged 9–11 can participate and the child with the best drawing related to space or aeronautics in each Member State will have his or her name given to a satellite of the Galileo programme.

From 1 September to 15 November, children living in the EU and born in 2000, 2001 and 2002 can take part within the competition to give names to the Galileo satellites constellation. The kids are invited to make a drawing related to space and aeronautics and send it to the website created for the competition. The years 2000, 2001 and 2002 are the same that the Galileo programme started and the Galileo satellites which will be progressively launched until 2019.

In each country, a national jury will select the best drawing and the winning child will have his or her name given to one of the satellites of the Galileo constellation, which will take place regularly as of 2012 until the full constellation (which should count 30 satellites) is complete. European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for enterprise and industry policies, stated that with this initiative the EU wants to incite the creativity of children, and for them to become enthusiastic about space and its opportunities from a young age.

The order in which the names of the children will be given to the satellites is determined by the alphabetical order of the member states written in the national language(s). The first two satellites to be launched on 20 October will bear the names of the winning children from Belgium (Thijs) and Bulgaria (Natalia) where the competition already took place earlier this year.