sentences:  The partner firms committed to not construct competing products for Galileo.However, some competition came from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, which successfully built and launched the first GIOVE-A testbed satellite, and which was then awarded a contract for a followon GIOVE-A2 satellite while the joint venture's GIOVE-B satellite remained on the ground awaiting launch.Since that time, the GIOVE-B satellite successfully launched, although after the Galileo project had been abandoned by European Satellite Navigation Industries and taken up by the European Union.