Galileo Sends Its First Signals 789
VVrath writes "Galileo, the European answer to the US Military-owned GPS has sent it's first signals to ground stations in the UK and Belgium. The first satellite in the Galileo system, Giove-A was launched on December 28th 2005, and is set to be followed by a further 29 satellites by 2010. At a cost of over $4 Billion, is this system really going to offer any major advantages over GPS, or is it merely a politicised 'anything you can do we can do better' by the European Space Agency?"
Galileo is nog about politics (Score:4, Funny)
... and that's why it's better.
Re:jamming (Score:0, Funny)
Politics? (Score:4, Funny)
Had this been put in the proper category, like Hardware or Science, I'd say: Great, maybe I could get 10cm accuracy with this, GPS and GPRS combined.
But since it's politics we're discussing here, I say: how long before France, Germany and the U.K. start argueing over trivial issues. This whole European Union thing is too de-centralized, it's only a matter of time before it's torn apart.
Re:Better, but not equal (Score:1, Funny)
DENIED (Score:1, Funny)
Once upon a time... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Better than US GPS? (Score:2, Funny)
Galileo has sent it's first signal... (Score:2, Funny)
Now wait until they get together and rule the world.
I agree (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Better than US GPS? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Staying Competitive: Europe vs. USA (Score:4, Funny)
Yes - why on earth is the US doing that? They can just use Galileo after all.
Re:Why US so steamed up? (Score:3, Funny)
Thank goodness we don't live in a world where nuclear missiles can cause damage over many square miles and cities are anchored in one place and even, god forbid, have their locations marked on maps which are widely available throughout the world, oh the horror.
I'm actually surprised that the EU isn't planning on using all those thousands of cheaply available Iranian and North Korean intercontinental missiles to help launch their satellites in the first place.
Re:Better than US GPS? (Score:3, Funny)