EU Launches First Satellites For Its Own GPS System
- Posted on October 21, 2011 at 4:30pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Photo: S. Corvaja/ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE via Space.com)
BRUSSELS (The Blaze/AP) — A Russian rocket launched the first two satellites of the European Union’s Galileo navigation system Friday after years of delay in an ambitious bid to rival the ubiquitous American GPS network.
The launch of the Soyuz from French Guiana, on the northern coast of South America, for the first time outside of the former Soviet Union’s borders, was pushed back by a day.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said it is the first time that two teams work together on the launch of the Soyuz. This is also the first time Soyuz has gone up since a malefaction sent it crashing toward into Siberia when it failed to reach orbit in August.
Watch the launch here:
Officials hope the Galileo system will end Europe’s dependence on American GPS and potentially even be its competition.
The rocket is expected to place into orbit the Galileo IOV-1 PFM and FM2 satellites during a nearly four-hour mission. The two satellites will be released in opposite directions. Two satellites will go up every quarter as of the end of 2012 until all 30 satellites are up, with Galileo expected to offer some services in 2014 and become completely operational by 2020.
GPS has become the global consumer standard in satellite navigation over the past decade, reducing the need for awkward oversized maps and arguments with back seat drivers about whether to turn left or right.
Laurent Wauquiez, France’s higher education minister and former deputy minister for European affairs, said Europe should not depend on a U.S. military-based GPS system that could be shut down at any time for security reasons.
“It means overnight we could lose our autonomy,” he said. “There is an issue of sovereignty. We must not neglect this aspect even in a period of globalization.”
The EU wants Galileo to dominate the future with a system that is more precise and more reliable than GPS, while controlled by civil authorities. It foresees applications ranging from precision seeding on farmland to pinpoint positioning for search-and-rescue missions. On top of that, the EU hopes it will reap a financial windfall.
“If Europe wants to be competitive and independent in the future, the EU needs to have its own satellite navigation system to also create new economic opportunities”, said Herbert Reul, head of the EU parliament’s industry, research and energy committee.
The EU hopes its economic impact will stand at about euro90 billion ($125 billion) in industrial revenues and public benefits over the next two decades.
The European Commission said development and deployment since 2003 is estimated at well over euro5 billion ($6.8 billion). Maintaining and completing the system is expected to cost euro1 billion ($1.35 billion) a year.
Critics have said the cost overruns were much higher.
“Far from celebrating,“ officials ”who have supported Galileo should be making a public apology to taxpayers for this shocking waste of time, effort and resources,” EU legislator Marta Andreasen of the anti-Euro UKIP party said.
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santramir
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 12:26pmrussia is launching private tourism space travel hotels, russia launching private civil geopositioning satellites wow, something has been wrong in the usa for the last decades.
Report Post »Crucial411
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 3:25pmOK the Eu is broke but they have the money to spend on………Satellites? I smell P..EU World Economy Scam?
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on October 24, 2011 at 12:42amMost Euro-zone nations have healthy economies. Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Italy are exceptions. Just like some states have low debt and unemployment, and the ones run by Democrats don’t.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 3:51pmThis is a very good thing. I look forward to combined GPS/Galileo chipsets and integrated receivers that can play nice with both satellite networks. If one network is more accurate at the moment, use it. If one network goes dark, use the other. In fact, the ChiComs are building THEIR own GPS-alike system, Compass https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Compass_navigation_system . The Russians already have their own GPS-alike called GLONASS https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/GLONASS . In so far as any and all of them are available to civilians, they should be used in conjunction with one another. In so far as they are controlled by civil rather than military authorities (which apparently is only true of Galileo) they should be preferred.
For any application I had, I’d use any and all networks I could get devices for, on top of an Inertial Management Unit that keeps track of location, altitude, direction of travel, and speed based solely on the rotational and translational forces applied to the device (and sometimes geomagnetic fields) without recourse to satellite signals as the ultimate backup.
Playing all of these systems off each other gives a more accurate and complete picture of all of the things GPS is famous for.
What it comes down to is redundancy is a good thing for reliability and Europe’s Galileo should be welcomed to the US GPS, Russian GLONASS, and Chinese Compass club.
Report Post »ObserverOnTheHill
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 9:00amInteresting, this, after the US has spent Trillion$$$ paying for European defense, allowing them to continue their failed social experiment. Let’s have them pay for their own defense now if they can spend money on this so Henri and Marie can have a female voice tell them when to turn to get to the market that they have gone to for the last 30 years.
Report Post »harrison.bergeron
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 3:15amWithout US providing for defense Europe will in 2 generations become Russia’s backyard and right back into the middle ages. Unfortunately, we have to bear the torch here, and hopefully not get burned as their social thoughtless miserable and failed experiments can get, as we have noticed very contagious on this side as well.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 11:13pmGee, just what we need–more space junk performing the same function as what’ already up there! Just think of what all that money might have done for Greece, Spain or Italy!
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 11:16pmHmmm, a little ‘nationalism’ or at least “Euro”ism? So much for One World Order! They just snubbed George Soros! Which means the “One World Order” has its origins here???
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