The European Union launched its first Galileo navigation satellite, the Giove-A, on Dec. 28 in a program to end Europe’s reliance on the United States’ Global Positioning System, or GPS. \r\n
\r\nThe European system, which is expected to go into service in 2008, aims to have an accuracy of 3 feet or less–five times better than the current GPS system.\r\n
\r\nCornell University researchers said this week that they’ve cracked the codes used by the Giove-A, raising questions as to whether the European Space Agency project will be economically viable. But EU officials said the intercepted signals are neither final nor secret.
The fully deployed Galileo system planned will consist of 30 satellites, positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit planes.
The 1,300-pound Giove-A satellite was launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan’s steppe.
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.
