The European Union's second Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE-B) satellite in the Galileo series was launched successfully from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Sunday, separating faultlessly from its Soyuz-FG rocket into orbit at just after 0200 GMT.
The latest in the Galileo satellite navigation systems has been launched successfully in Kazakhstan. Photo: Launch of first in series, Giove-A in 2005. Credit: ESA
"The mission is a success," said Franco Bonacina, spokesman for the European Space Agency (ESA) reported AFP, and this was confirmed by Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of Starstem, the Russo-European company in charge of the launch.
The demonstration model will carry the most powerful atomic clock to be sent into orbit, designed to accurately measure time to within one nanosecond (billionth of a second) every 24 hours. The accurate timekeeping is crucial in the satellite navigation system, which is based on the calculation of time that passes between the emitting of the signal, and its reception.
The GIOVE-B is the second in the series and has taken over from the original in the Galileo series launched in 2005. The first GIOVE principally claimed the frequencies which will be used by Galileo in its navigation and the latest model will be used as the template for 30 operational platforms that will be rolled out from 2010, reports the BBC.
"We're already cutting metal on the first four of those," said Richard Peckham, from EADS Astrium, the company which has led the development of the demonstrator. "Giove-B is therefore a significant step in that direction. There are new technologies in Europe which haven't yet flown. This is the opportunity to test their performance in space," he told BBC News.
The Galileo project is an attempt to usurp the popular U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) currently used in satellite navigation in vehicles and ships around the world.It has been designed to be technologically complementary with GPS, though Galileo operators claim the technology is superior, able to detect users' position to within one metre rather GPS' several metres.
The long-delayed project has already cost the EU $2.5 billion and its member states have warned that an additional approved $5.3 billion will be the limit on Europe's satellite navigation systems expenditure.
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