Hello, Galileo: European GPS sat sends first navigation data

Although Galileo, the European alternative to GPS, has been beset by endless delays and even the ignominy of having its access system hacked almost immediately, the project continues to make slow progress this week with the transmission of its first navigation message. GIOVE-A, the first of a planned 30 satellites, has been floating overhead since the beginning of last year, but had only been sending "general signals" until the test last week, when the bird sent the data needed to measure the distance between itself and a ground station in Guildford, England. That's a big step, since the system is supposed go live next year and be fully operational by 2011 or so. Here's hoping all goes well -- the American-owned GPS system keeps sending European drivers into the drink.

[Ian Jardine @ May 7th 2007 4:56PM]

LOL.
I think it's the European maps which send the drivers into the "drink" not the gps signal. But makes fun reading.
I still shake my head at the EU spending billions on a duplication of what already exists. And who will pay for the premium service I wonder? Needs as lot pay paying customers for this baby.

[L.Rawlins @ May 7th 2007 4:59PM]

I'm hoping that our new satelite systems are already spec'd to handle the triangulation of a signal above sea level. I want to know what floor I'm on/what floor I need to be on aswell as what post code I'm standing in. Three dimensional Sat-nav. Yes puh-lease.

Especially useful now that Sat-nav is on the mobile platform.

[Eric @ May 7th 2007 5:02PM]

Turbo spammer! [e-mail]

[falcon2xp @ May 7th 2007 5:03PM]

I love competition, gps is grate and improving but am wondering if the usa spent about $750 million per year
How much does the Galileo would cost?

[L.Rawlins @ May 7th 2007 5:04PM]

It's likely more cost effective actually. I highly doubt we get all our co-ordinates from the US funded system for free.

Likewise, I highly doubt we get free reign over our military and strategic use of the proprietary data either.

[Kevo @ May 7th 2007 5:18PM]

....Meanwhile the USA develops plans to attach lasers to NASA space shuttles to shoot Galileo sats out of space should a war ever break out. Or better yet, attach the lasers to GPS sats! War of the satellites!

[Ivan Kisic @ May 7th 2007 5:26PM]

@ Ian Jardine, did you know that the US Government can pull the plug on the GPS service when ever it wants? Why would milions of customers depend only on a navigation system that is dependant on the US armed forces?

[catfish @ May 7th 2007 5:33PM]

Because its cheap and it works? Its not like the us is going to war with europe anytime soon (and if they do, you have more to worry about than your in car sat nav...)

[MHenson @ May 7th 2007 5:50PM]

All location systems that offer a view of four or more satellites at once can do 3-D positioning. The GPS system offers views of up to ~12 satellites at once, so 3D position is no problem. This isn't a characteristic of the satellite; it's a question of the GPS receiver design. Aviation GPS's, for example, can tell you what your altitude is. They even have a 3-D topographical map and obstacle database to tell you if you're about to perform a CFT (controlled flight into terrain).

As for the US gov't turning off the GPS system... well, that would pretty much shut down commerce and aviation in the United States, at least for a few weeks. There are too many systems (such as the aforementioned aviation nav) that have integrated GPS. The worst part is that not only is Europe wasting their dollars re-creating the system, but so is Russia. I guess it's their money...

[Schizo @ May 7th 2007 6:27PM]

Bear in mind the US threatened to shoot down the satellite to Galileo should it not be turned off upon request if the US is ever at war.

Just a lovely, cuddly, friendly nation is the US no?.....

[Ian Jardine @ May 7th 2007 8:31PM]

Ivan,
Of course in theory the USA can pull the plug on the gps. So can the EU on Galileo. By the way the US and the EU sat down and prefact agreed that if either side saw a "threat" both would pull their respective GPS AT THE SAME TIME. Both the UE and the US know a threat to either, is a threat to both and they agreed at all levels how to co-ordinate a shut down. By the way when was the last time your free US gps service was shut down?
Galileo is years and billions behind/above schedule/budget and counting, so it's likely not cost effective at all. The sums being spent has been discussed several times. It's supposed to self support on it's PAY service, for increased accuracy. Will enough people PAY for it to recoup it's money.....? I doubt it and a simple upgrade to the US GPS would undermine the business anyway. It's likely, the G system, will be a drag on EU Tax payers for years to come. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2474634,00.html

[Ian Jardine @ May 7th 2007 8:39PM]

Schizo,
Without the lovely cuddly friendly Americans I would likely have been raised into a rather different European society in the last half of the 20th Century......

[daniel @ May 8th 2007 2:47AM]

The Galileo project is amongst other things a way for europe to prove their independence from USA. It will also provide much higher levels of accuracy and will assure us that no Selective Availability is going to be implemented again.

[Marc @ May 8th 2007 7:16AM]

@Ian Jardine
No need to shake your head at the EU spending billions. According to the EU's own Galileo web site, the project has 'Unquestionable Economic Viability' In fact there is even a whole page dedicated to it....

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/intro/viability_en.htm

Life is really so much easier when everything is unquestionable. Where would be today if Galileo Galilei himself had had the temerity to ask questions?

[wiz420 @ May 8th 2007 3:04PM]

As a land surveyor working in the US, I wholeheartedly welcome Galileo, GLONASS, and any other satellite positioning system. I require survey-grade accuracy for my work (tolerances under 1cm) and Galileo should improve this greatly. Not to mention that Galileo signals will travel much better through buildings, overhead foliage, etc. GPS often fails with minor obstacles (If it only gets me within one or two feet it is completely useless). Also, sometimes the GPS satellites go out of range (I like to have at least 7 at all times). A system that can read signals from all three systems would be awesome. But that's just me...

[John @ May 13th 2007 8:20AM]

Position accuracy is greatly improved with Galileo. We're talking centimeters. The US system is good enough for driving on roads, while Galileo could give you instructions for walking on sidewalks. E.g. give blind people walking instructions, guide you to the bus stop in a foreign city, take you to the right subway entry point, etc.

Regarding the sensibility of building another system. China are also building their own system, so this is more a matter of national security than economics. But wouldn't it make more sense to simply change the GPS signals to encrypted signals and only equip US military with decryption capabilities? That's how it worked before 2000?