The European Union has launched the first satellite in its Galileo navigation program last December, which European officials expect one day will end the continent's reliance on the US Global Positioning System or GPS.
The Galileo satellite, named "Giove A," took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket. Journalists monitored the lift-off through a linkup at the European Space Agency headquarters in Paris. After the launch amid clear skies, the satellite was released into orbit and began transmitting signals.
The $4-billion Galileo project will eventually use about 30 satellites and is expected to more than double GPS coverage, providing satellite navigation for
 everyone from motorists to sailors to mapmakers. Because Galileo is under civilian control, the ESA also says it can guarantee operation at almost all times, unlike the American system.
Galileo will be more exact than GPS, with precision of about three feet, compared to about 16 feet with GPS technology, ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina said.
With Galileo, for example, rescue services will be able to tell ambulance drivers which lane to use on the highway.
A second satellite named "Giove B" is scheduled to be placed in orbit this spring. Two more satellites will then be launched in 2008 to complete the testing phase, which requires at least four satellites in orbit to guarantee an exact position and time anywhere on earth.
|
