Free Republic

Navigating future for road charges Europe's motorists are driving towards new pricing structures Motorists are already beginning to embrace the idea of satellite-navigation units in cars. And in a few years, sat-nav will be doing far more than simply telling drivers how to get to their destination. This week, the first test satellite in Europe's 3.4bn-euro (£2.3bn; $4bn) Galileo satellite-navigation system blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The final global network of 30 Galileo satellites is crucial to providing the high volumes of time- and location-based data needed for new services such as advanced sat-nav,...

PARIS—A satellite blasted into space yesterday to launch the European Union's $4 billion planned rival to the United States' Global Positioning System. The test satellite took off from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. The 600-kilogram satellite was released into orbit nearly four hours later, when it began transmitting signals. "If the Americans want to scramble GPS, they can do it whenever they want ... whereas our system is a civilian-based system run by a civilian authority and would be completely autonomous," said Bonacina. As it orbits 23,000 kilometres above the Earth, the satellite will test atomic clocks and navigation...

"Supplementary funding issue divides partners as cash for programme starts to dry up" Work on the European Galileo navigational satellite programme could be suspended if four of the national partners continue to block agreement over industrial workshare linked to cost increases, says the European Space Agency. Finland, Germany, Spain and the UK are blocking a vote to resolve the issue of supplementary funding for the Galileo programme, the cost of which has increased from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion ($1.32 billion to $1.81 billion). Half of the extra €400 million is being provided by the European Commission and the rest...

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The European Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite on Wednesday, moving to challenge the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS). Russian space agency Roskosmos said the 600 kg (1,300 lb) satellite named Giove-A (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) went into its orbit 23,000 km (15,000 miles) from the earth after its launch on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe. "The launch of Giove is the proof that Europe can deliver ambitious projects to the benefit of its citizens and companies," said EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot in a...

GIOVE A, the first Galileo satellite, departed from ESA’s test facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands on the morning of 29 November, bound for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft, packed in its transport container and accompanied by its support equipment, was taken by road from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, where it was loaded onto an Antonov transport plane. GIOVE-A was flown first to Moscow and, after customs formalities had been completed, made the second leg of its air journey to Baikonur, arriving in the...