Europe launches first Galileo satellite
The EU and European Space Agency successfully launched the first in a series of satellites for a new global positioning system called Galileo. The project is expected to cost an estimated 3.8 billion Euros. The need to launch this system is rooted in the fear that the US government can and would shut off the GPS system at anytime it deems necessary.
The system is expected to be completed by 2011, complete with 30 satellites and nearly 100 percent coverage of the planet at that time, which would have accuracy down to +/- 1 meter. This is better than the current US system, and would be useful in the related industries that require best in class accuracy, like commercial aviation and location based advertising. The system will offer two levels of service, a free lower accuracy service (similar to the current GPS service) and a fee based highly accurate service.
Before the Galileo system is complete the Russian Glonass system will be active in 2008 if all things stay on schedule.
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Posted by Scott Martin at December 29, 2005 4:41 PM
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