"Pathfinders" Take Shape For Galileo, Europe's GPS 105
oliderid sends along a BBC report on progress toward Europe's home-grown GPS system. The Galileo concept will get an initial test via four "pathfinder" satellites that will be the first in the Galileo constellation. Galileo is intended to be complementary with the US GPS system — when all 30 Galileo birds are flying, a receiver with both GS and Galileo capability should enjoy 1-meter positional accuracy, vs. the several meters available through GPS alone, according to the article. There's a video tour of the facility where the pathfinders are being built. "After all the wrangling, the delays, and the furor over cost, Europe's version of GPS is finally starting to take shape. Due for launch in pairs in late 2010 and early 2011, the 'pathfinders' will form a mini-constellation in the sky. They will transmit the navigation signals that demonstrate the European system can become a reality."
Re:Funding (Score:3, Funny)
(unless they sold some babies or something)
Don't be so narrow minded. Music industry execs have to eat something.
Re:The EU system won't get used (Score:5, Funny)
GPS is so standard now, and it is bugfree. It's hard to imagine anyone switching.
Yeah, "complementary" is a long word, isn't it? I wonder what it means.
Re:general relativity at work (Score:5, Funny)
I'm struggling to think of a positioning system design that would require GR/SR to work rather than time of flight... I think it would have to be an active transponder system, or some kind of weird gravity wave detector? It would be interesting.
If we ever need accurate positioning around a black hole, we can at least know that slashdot will be able to tell us how!
And people call us useless! Hah!