Europe launches second test of GPS rival

THE EU launched the second and final test satellite for its $5.3-billion (€3.4bn) rival to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) yesterday, brushing off industry doubts over its viability.

The Galileo project, Europe’s biggest single space programme, has been plagued by delays and squabbling over funding that ended only when the 27-nation EU agreed to put public funds into it.

The experimental satellite, Giove-B, was put into orbit by a rocket in Kazakhstan and is to test technologies for Galileo such as a high-precision atomic clock and the triple-channel transmission of navigation signals, the executive European Commission said in a statement.

“(The project) will be operational in 2013 and already we think this will be profitable,” said EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot.

“We’re already working on putting its products and services on the market in 2013, so we really believe that starting at the operational phase of Galileo, this is a system that can be profitable.”

Galileo has been plagued by doubts about its viability given the dominant position of GPS and similar projects planned by Russia and China.