Europe Launches Two Galileo Satellites to Cut Reliance on GPS - by Makiko Kitamura

Europe’s Galileo global navigation system launched its first two satellites today as part of a project that may generate 90 billion euros ($124 billion) in economic and social benefits over two decades.

The satellites rode a Russian rocket launched from a space port in Kourou, French Guiana, to an altitude of 23,000 kilometers (14,300 miles), the European Commission said in a statement. While 4.5 billion euros have been allocated to develop and build the system for the period ending in 2013, another 7 billion euros will be needed for the budget cycle through 2020 to finish building the system and keep it operating, said Ingrid Godkin, an official at the commission.

Satellite technology is used for applications including in- car navigation, time-stamping transactions at banks and powering telecommunications. Unlike the Global Positioning System, developed by the U.S. military, Galileo is designed for civil purposes and aims to end Europe’s reliance on GPS. Galileo will also have a commercial, fee-based service for high-precision, guaranteed signals for use in areas including mining, surveying and mapping, which GPS doesn’t offer.

Galileo also will provide “a guaranteed system that won’t be vulnerable to being shut off for political or military reasons,” Godkin said.

Germany’s OHB System AG will build the first 14 satellites, and France’s Arianespace made the launchers. The system will start operating in 2014 and will be available free of charge.

“We are following it closely,” said Kristina Nilsson, a spokeswoman for TomTom NV, in the Netherlands, Europe’s biggest maker of portable navigation devices. “GPS is accurate, but we always track all new technical developments.”

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