What has happened to Galileo

[peterandjeanette]

Following reports that the USA's GPS satellites are about to fail through old age, albeit slowly, what has happened to the European GPS known as Galileo?

This was to be the all singing/all dancing GPS system that would track us in our cars/boats/planes etc. to charge us for usage of the planet's surface. But it seems to have gone very quiet.

For those concerned about the USA system - the satellites are running out of steam and will begin to fail. We should be OK in our boats for some time as we don't have high buildings, trees, mountains etc. in the middle of the Channel to obstruct the radio waves, but on land could be a different matter as the satellites start to go down.

 

[nonitoo]

I wouldn't worry too much about this story. If you look at the FAA website you will find that the US Authorities are publishing up to 300 new GPS/WAAS approach procedures for airports in the US each year.

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...techops/navservices/gnss/approaches/index.cfm

These are replacing the ground based Instrument Landing Systems as they reach the end of their useful lives.

In addition the armed forces use GPS/WAAS for targetting both tactically and stategically, in some cases as a cross check against the onboard INS.

I doubt very much that we are suddenly going to see a degradation of the service when the US authorities themselves are extending the utilisation of the system.

Could the story be budgetary posturing ?

Tom

 

[RIN]

Yes I think it is a bid for more funding. But what has happened to Galileo? Isn't it supposed to be working in 2010. I did hear that the US was not keen to have such a system outside of their control

 

[RIN]

OK 2013 then story on this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_gps

 

[Wiggo]

Never mind Galileo, when are they going to get EGNOS working? It's only 5 years late...

 

[nonitoo]

EGNOS would be nice but DGPS is good enough for me.

In days of yore if I was within a mile of my DR position I was satisfied.

Tom

 

[Wiggo]

I wouldn't mind, but I got rid of my old dGPS antenna and replaced it with a sooper dooper RayStar 125 SDGPS system because DGPS was outdated and EGNOS was the way forward...

 

[nonitoo]

Didn't know you needed a new antenna for EGNOS.

Tom

 

[rafiki_]

Trinity House is working very hard to ensure that Gallileo goes ahead robustly.

 

[nonitoo]

I've just checked and my Northstar 557 is WAAS/EGNOS enabled.

I'm obviously receiving DGPS signals ('cos it confirms this on the screen and alarms if the signal degrades to 'merely' GPS).

I look forward to the implementation of EGNOS.

Tom

 

[ari]

Dunno about all that stuff, but my Decca is still playing up :confusedsmilie:

 

[nonitoo]

A bit like my Consol and Omega receivers then !!

Tom

 

[timbartlett]

Nothing has happened to Galileo. Despite the UK government's efforts to pull the rug out from under it, and various other governments' intermittent attempts to kick it behind its knees, it continues to limp into the future. Enthusiastic press releases tell us of meetings held, agreements reached, and contracts signed -- but they are invariably accompanied only by photographs of men in suits shaking hands or holding pens -- never of actual satellites being launched.

The current state of play -- a year after the system was originally supposed to have 30 satellites in orbit and be fully operational -- is that there are two satellites in space, and a contract signed for four more test satellites to "validate the concept". Another contract has been signed with the russians to launch them, and someone else has signed something else to hand over the empty shell of a building that is eventually supposed to become one of the two control centres.

Before long, they probably won't need to get the russians to launch them -- they'll just get a few blokes from Poland to shovel all the contracts, agendas, minutes and memoranda into a big pile. Then they'll take the satellites up to the top in a wheelbarrow and drop them into orbit by giving them a good push!

GPS
I think we are all so conditioned by the way our own government operates that we instinctively sense a financial scam -- but I really don't think that is the problem with GPS.

The outfit that stands to gain financially is the USAF ... but they are playing down the extent of the problem. It is the GAO -- an outfit that is supposed to monitor and control expenditure -- that is highlighting it. It seems to boil down to a simple cock-up ... that they've left it too late to order the next crop of satellites. If everything goes according to plan, it might just be OK. But no US space project has ever come in on time or on budget. Or they might get it back onto schedule by recommissioning old satellites or lowering the specifications of the new ones.

Glonass and Beidou
There are two dark horses in the field.

Beidou 2 (AKA Compass) is the chinese one. Reports emerging from china are few, and contradictory: we could be anything between 5 and 15 years from seeing Beidou 2 complete.

But Glonass (the russian one) is almost back up to strength, with 20 nice new satellites up there now, and six more due to launch later this year. Early next year, they will almost certainly declare world-wide 24/7 coverage, free to any civilian with a suitable receiver.

At present, suitable receivers have five figure price tags ... but not for long. At the next London Boat Show -- maybe even at Southampton -- I won't be at all surprised to see a GPS/Glonass chart plotter for well under £1k.