RSSEurope Launches Satellite GPS Rival
By Ed Oswald | Published December 28, 2005, 1:00 PM
The EU has launched the first of several dozen satellites aimed at providing navigational services to Europe, and an answer to the U.S.-controlled GPS system. The first satellite, "Giove A," launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday.
Eventually, the Galileo system will be comprised of about 30 satellites, costing about 3.4 billion euros. Several non-EU nations have joined the project, including China, India, Israel, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine, and discussions are underway with others.
A second satellite, "Giove B," is set for launch in Spring 2006, with another two satellites being placed into orbit two years later.
The new navigation system will be more accurate than GPS, with exact positioning to within a one meter or three foot radius versus five meters or 15 feet with GPS. Whereas the U.S. military controls the GPS system, the Galileo system is under civilian control, the European Space Agency said.
The project is expected to create some 150,000 jobs in Europe, and 1 billion euros have been set aside in the 2007-2013 EU budget as an initial investment. A large portion of the funding will come from the private sector.
Initially criticizing the effort, the United States has now signed an agreement to make the service compatible with GPS. At first, the Justice Department saw the project as a potential security threat if it could interfere with GPS systems.
The first Galileo receivers are expected on the market by 2008.
"Initially criticizing the effort, the United States has now signed an agreement to make the service compatible with GPS. At first, the Justice Department saw the project as a potential security threat if it could interfere with GPS systems."
Which translated means that the USJD realised that nobody outside the US gave a flying **** what they thought and the US Govt were worried about being left out of being able to use a system WAY better than anything US.Mil has.
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|Why on earth has what you people are talking about have anything to do with the story "Europe Launches Satellite GPS Rival"?
Should BetaNews not remove more or less all of the below comments?
On the subject matter at hand, i think its great there i another satellite navigation system, the more accurate the better. A key thing which i like about Galileo is that it is civilian control, there for we can rely on it.
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|As a regular GPS user, I'll just say I'm happy to see a second system going into place. Especially one which will be service compatible with GPS.
The extent of reliance on satellite navigation is far too vast, worldwide, to be solely in the hands and control of any one nation...no matter which one.
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|Europe will soon rule the world. You Americans, like your dollar, are finished . Remember the Romans ? Their RIAA tried to stop free enterprise in the music business lol :)
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|Ohhh shutup. Europe wants to be like us so much they can't stand it. There will only be 1 US and 1 Europe and no matter what you say-you will always try to be US.
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|Be like an American ? BE A BABY KILLER AS IN VIETNAM AND IRAQ ? WE EUROPEANS CREATED AMERICA IN OUR IMAGE. IF YOU HAVE DEVOLVED FROM OUR PRINCIPLES, WE CANNOT BE BLAMED. IF YOU FAILED TO EVOLVE. THEN YOU DESERVE TO PERISH AS MUCH AS THE GREAT APES HAVE.
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|I'm sure even an ape would know how to turn off the caps lock key.
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|** Cough splutter **
you are joking, right?
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|we didn't kill the aboriginal people ..you did .Heroes like general custer did so in the name of your democracy. Europeans tried to rectify your genocide by supporting the southern states during your civil war. It was your brothers and sisters who died ..so don't preach . We gave you a perfect democratic state,you abused it by killing afro-americans and indians.I repeat you are a nation of baby killers.
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|True the American empire is no diffrent from the others.. they all falled apart sooner or later
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|The great apes have perished?? Does Jane Goodall know about this?
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|Europe lost eons ago, you ungrateful moron. Europe used to rule us, then we told it to go-- whereupon it proceeded to attack. We then kicked its behind & sent it away whimpering; but that wasn't enough for the sore loser-- it re-attacked a ½ century later-- losing even worse.
We issued a Monroe Doctrine, telling Europe to keep its stinking hands off any part of this hemisphere, but that was disobeyed some 3/4 of a century later(Cuba)-- so we had to kick arse again.
Two decades later, this disfunctional continent started infighting, & we had to go save- ironically- the very ones that had been attacking us over the years.
We did it yet again decades later-- and you know what? We were even nice enough not to conquer it, and to give it money & food to help it rebuild.
And if all that wasn't enough, we saved you from Communism during a subsequent, long half century of struggle.
So Jane, you ignorant slut:
Achtung, liberaler Abfall!
Lick my American boot in gratitude-- & thank your Maker that right now you don't have to be sucking on a German pickle or Russian sausage.
хороший пока глупый неблагодарный человек
You lucky Bedouin camel-- forum won't display cyrillic alphabet.
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|I believe it was the French who wanted the US in Vietnam...
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|*shakes head*
People... don't even waste your keystrokes replying to this bigot.
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|You don't know very much about European or American history, do you? You've made so many inaccurate statements I don't think it's even worth trying to correct you.
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|I really need to learn to ignore people like you.
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|Ok, I'll bite.
To start off, just so you can post this, there are some needed things for it.
Website (in US)
Webserver (in US)
DNS (US owned)
TCPIP (US developed)
Ethernet (US)
Operating system (Windows/Linux/VMS/BSD/UNIX/OSX/BEOS *all* US)
GUI web browser (US)
CPU (US)
So, without the US, how could you even complain about the US?
Also, the term "American" means from America.... Canada/USA/Mexico/Cuba/Brazil are all "american" countries.
Anyways, whats so great about the EU version of 'evolution'? I dont happen to have blond hair and blue eyes......
I guess the next evolution for mankind is a keyboard with a broken caps-lock and broken english?
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|Wow! Your comments are trying to sound like someone who was born in the 50's and 60's, but are much more naive like those of 90's and now. After you finish your history lessons in high school, then come back and talk intelligently about this subject. There is not a goverment out there that has not done some pretty stupid things; and you blaming the soldiers that went to war is just idiotic. You sir, are euro trash. Your comments are off base - way off base. You can't be more than 15.
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|Actually, my clueless friend, without Tim Berners Lee - a Brit - inventing HTML, your web browser would be pretty useless.
In fact, if you want to go back far enough then without the Spanish discovering America and the Mayflower which came from England, you're contry wouldn't exist.
And just to give yet another stupid Yank a geography lesson, blonde hair and blue eyes came from Scandinavian countries which aren't/weren't part of Europe...
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|Actually my dumba** American friend, it was BRITAIN that used to rule you and 2/3 of the world, not Europe. We ruled that too.
Just to add...Britain has never lost a war in the last 200 years and America has never won a war on their own.
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|Actually, Scandinavia is a part of Europe and has always been. I suggest you brush up on your geography skills yourself.
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