Launch of second Galileo test satellite postponed
The second experimental satellite, Giove-B, for the European satellite navigation system Galileo will probably be postponed several months. Instead of being launched in April, the satellite called Giove-B will probably take off between September and November, a spokesperson from the European Space Agency ESA told the Financial Times Deutschland. Giove-B was originally designed as a replacement for the first Galileo test satellite Giove-A, which was shot into space at the end of December from the Cosmodrom Baikonur in Kazakhstan on board a Sojus-Fregat booster. The main task of Giove-A is to ensure frequency bands for the operation of Galileo: by June of 2006, ESA will have to demonstrate that it can actually use the radio frequencies reserved for Galileo by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). "We are not in any hurry because Giove-A will be ensuring the frequency bands," the ESA spokesperson told the FTD. The spokesperson explained that the postponement of Giove-B would not affect the setup of the overall system of 30 satellites.
Note EU-Digest: The spacecraft was built by Surrey Space Technology Limited of the United Kingdom, and will carry out a two-year mission to test the navigation signals and atomic clock that are at the heart of the Galileo system, and also to secure frequencies assigned to Europe by the International Telecommunications Union to avoid possible interference with the radio waves from the American and Russian systems.Galileo will offer four different types of service packages, including an open service that is provided at no cost to users, a safety-of-life service that alerts users when accuracy or integrity is compromised, a commercial service using encrypted signals, and a public regulated service that is aimed at government users.Despite this competitive rhetoric between the US and EU, it is well understood that the two groups will offer a similar product, and alternative sources for this critical information provides both Americans and Europeans with greater flexibility. Users should be able to obtain signals from both systems with a single receiver, further exemplifying that the systems are in step with one another.
The cutting edge satellites will collectively pinpoint ground receivers within three feet of their actual location, with some modes able to reach an unprecedented accuracy of just four inches at times.
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