A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Galileo satellite blasts off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, yesterday. A European Union consortium on Wednesday took the first step to creating a hoped-for global navigation system when its satellite went into orbit after blast-off on a Russian rocket. - REUTERS
MOSCOW (Reuters):
THE EUROPEAN Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite yesterday, moving to challenge the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).
Russia's space agency Roskosmos said the 600 kg (1,300 lb) spacecraft went into its designated orbit 23,000 km (15,000 miles) from the Earth after its launch on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe.
"From now on, directing the spacecraft is down to the client that made the order - that is, the European Space Agency," a Roskosmos spokesman said.
COMMERCIAL ALTERNATIVE
The 3.6 billion euro (US$4.27 billion) Galileo programme, due to go into service in 2008 and eventually deploy 30 satellites, may end Europe's reliance on the GPS and offer a commercial alternative to the GPS run by the U.S. military.
The GPS is currently the only worldwide system offering services ranging from driver assistance to search-and-rescue help. Critics say its services for civilians offer less precision than those for military or intelligence purposes.
EU officials say Galileo will offer more exact positioning. They privately add Galileo would never be switched off for strategic reasons, which might be the case with the GPS.
BIGGEST EVER SPACE PROGRAMME
If successful, the satellite will mark a major step in Europe's biggest ever space programme, involving firms such as European aerospace giant EADS, France's Thales and Alcatel, Britain's Inmarsat, Italy's Finmeccanica and Spain's AENA and Hispasat.
The system will be organised as a public-private partnership, with the Commission wanting two-thirds of the funding to come from industry and the rest from public coffers.
Galileo, which is developed with the help of several non-European countries including Ukraine, Israel and China, will create about 140,000 jobs in Europe, EU officials say.
The EU and the U.S. clinched a deal last year on making Galileo compatible with the GPS.
Washington had been initially unhappy about Galileo, saying it could pose a potential security threat as its signals could interfere with those of the next-generation GPS.
The Giove-A satellite (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) will test key new technologies such as on-board atomic clocks, signal generators and user receivers. The second, Giove-B satellite is to be launched in the spring.
