Galileo will consist of 30 satellites revolving in different orbits around the earth.
Photo: ESA / NTB scanpix
on Thursday 15. December is a red-letter day for The european space agency (ESA) when the satellite navigation system Galileo finally arrives in the operation.
Europe is now a separate system, and is no longer dependent on the united STATES for the increasingly important satellittnavigasjonen.
While both the us GPS and the Russian GLONASS are run by the military, Galileo is civilian and operated by the civil AUTHORITY.
Galileo can operate together with their american and Russian “brothers”, but can also stand on its own.
– To have a system that is independent of the militærkontrollerte american system can be beneficial if there are disagreements or conflicts that may lead the united STATES to restrict the access to the GPS; says romfartsforsker George Abbey at Rice university in Houston, Texas.
17. november was an Ariana 5 rocket launched from Esa’s “spaceport our space themed” in French Guiana with four Galileo satellites on board. Thus, 18 satellites in operation, enough to put in the time system.
Photo: STEPHANE CORVAJA / Afp
Precisely down to one meter
Galileo is far more precisely than their competitors. While GPS is accurate down to seven metres, it is Galileo when it is in full operation and be able to say with a margin of error of one meter where you are located.
the Precision is a result of the fact that it is based on the atomklokker, which only goes one second error in three million years. An error on one milliarddels second leads to an error of 30 centimeters.
GPS helps a train to know where it is, Galileo can tell which track it is on, ” says the president of the French space agency CNES, Jean-Yves Le Gall, to AFP.
the Precision is crucial for everything from self-driving cars to international shipping.
Root, bureaucracy and power struggle
the Decision to create the Galileo was made in 1999 and the intention was that it would cost under three billion euros to 27 billion.
over the years, is the price tag come up over the triple, over ten billion euros.
Since the decision to create the Galileo system has been characterized by the usual EUROPEAN diseases; root, bureaucracy.
The biggest mistake happened in 2014, when the two satellites were sent up in the wrong path.
Some countries, like Spain, have complained that other countries such as Italy and Germany have taken major roles and pushed their technological companies out of the processes.
Computermodell of Galileo shows how the earth to be covered by multiple satellites.
Photo: J. HUART / AFP
Hope on the big income
Although Galileo is put into operation today, it will first be fully developed in 2020.
the EUROPEAN union and the ESA hope that the Galileo over time will make up for all that it has cost to build, and more.
Around ten per cent of the Eu gdp is currently dependent on satellite navigation, a number that is expected to increased to 30 per cent by 2030.
it is Hoped that the Galileo during its first 20 years to make up for the 90 billion euros, many times what it has cost to build.
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