Currently, navigational systems make use of the American GPS satellite network (Global Positioning System) for their navigational needs. For the past few years, a competing European network called Galileo has been under development. Europe deemed it necessary to create a proprietary version of GPS, because, even though the use of the current GPS signal is free for all, the Americans can block it if the (military) occasion calls for it.Struggle
Because a lot of European countries are involved, the development of Galileo is not an easy one. Of course there already were the unavoidable financial problems, and now problems have arisen with regards to the spreading of the different tasks throughout all the parties involved (and thus the spreading of the risks). The problem is the consortium of eight companies from France, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom and Italy that has been assigned the creation and maintenance of the satellite network. Spain in particular is said to want to do as much of the work as possible, but the other countries don’t agree with this. The EU has given the consortium until this Thursday to come to an agreement.If no agreement is reached, the European Union will interfere even more emphatically with the process of getting the Galileo project up and running. That is the idea of the current German Chairman, in who’s name Wolfgang Tiefensee spoke when he also announced that the whole project will require more money than estimated. The first appraisals spoke of ¤ 3.4 billion, but now Tiefensee reckons the total cost will be about ¤ 4 billion, which makes Galileo the EU's most expensive project. The extra cost will have to be met by the EU member states, or the European tax payer.
Slowdown
Galileo was set to become operational in 2008, but the first financial discussions have led to big slowdowns. According to current planning, Galileo should now be fully operational in 2011. Unfortunately, the German Minister Tiefensee now claims that the current discussions about the division of labour will lead to even more slowdowns, and so he doesn’t expect to see Galileo active before 2012. On May 16th, a new, up-to-date plan will be put forward on how to handle the project in the future.Signal
Galileo should consist of thirty satellites, which can then be used for locating people and equipment on Earth. That’s six satellites more than the current GPS network, which should make Galileo more accurate. Since November 2005, the first Galileo satellite has been orbiting the Earth, and it’s signal is already free for all to receive. Of course, one satellite is no good for positioning, for this to work, at least two more satellites have to be launched and orbited.Alternative
Europe is not the only one who is working on a GPS alternative. Since 1995, the Russians have their own GLONASS network, which consists of 24 satellites. After the first few years, the satellites literally dropped out of the sky, or they broke down due to the lack of maintenance. After the Russians had found fresh money to pump into the maintenance of the project they have now, in a joint-effort with India, started re-building the network. By now GLONASS is almost functional again, and should be completely operational by the end of the year.China is also working on their own network of navigational satellites. Their project is called ‘Beidou’, and in it’s first version it only aims to cover the Chinese territories. All the necessary satellites for this network have been launched. In the longer term, China plans on a Beidou 2 network, which should cover the entire planet, just like GPS, Galileo and GLONASS do. The complete Beidou 2 network will consist of 35 satellites, of which the first two were launched in February and April 2007. The Chinese only release limited information on Beidou, but the network is meant for navigation on the road grid of the immense country, for the railroads and the nautical industry. Besides navigation, Beidou will also play a role in weather forecasting, telecommunication and predicting forest fires and other disasters.
China also plays a role in the development of Galileo, and has invested ¤ 230 million into the European network, despite the development of their own network.
