Europe’s own global navigation system is a step closer with the launch of two more Galileo satellites on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.<br /><br />The satellites – numbers five and six – follow four previous ones which were sent into space in 2011 and 2012.<br /><br />That represented a phase to put the spacecraft into orbit. The latest launch brings the Galileo project towards full operational deployment.<br /><br />This phase is fully funded by the European Commission, with the European Space Agency building and developing the system.<br /><br />Europe’s navigation service is designed to be compatible with the American and Russian systems GPS and Glonass.<br /><br />Unlike those two forerunners, which were originally developed for military purposes, Galileo will be entirely under civilian control.<br /><br />Its uses could be numerous: to aid transport, be it from the air, sea or land in the form of road and rail traffic.<br /><br />It could also help search and rescue operations in natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes – as well as aiding energy, agriculture and fishing. <br /><br />As the system is developed the plan is to launch six to eight satellites per year.<br /><br />It is hoped that the project, estimated to have cost six billion euros to date, will bring significant savings and create thousands of jobs.
