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.