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The European Space Agency and the European Union want to provide an alternative to GPS — Global Positioning System, the space-based satellite navigation system operated by the United States — called Galileo, named after the astronomer who gave us the precursor of Newtonian physics. Galileo is a €5 billion project intended for civilian use scheduled to be completed and operational by 2019, with 27 satellites and 3 spares orbiting 14,600 miles above Earth.
The system suffered a setback on Saturday, though, when two satellites launched from French Guiana failed to attain their intended orbit, Phys.Org reports ( http://phys.org/news/2014-08-galileo-satellites.html ). It’s not immediately clear why there was a malfunction, and the agencies involved are investigating. In the meantime, however, Galileo’s French coordinator spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) ( http://www.afp.com/en/news/two-galileo-satellites-lose-their-way ) and said it will be be complicated to correct the satellites’ orbits.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday August 25 2014, @07:15AM
According to what they said in radio this morning, the last rocket stage, which was supposed to bring it into the correct orbit, didn't work correctly.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.