The European Union launched it’s first Galileo navigation satellite today in the hopes to end it’s reliance on the U.S. GPS navigation system. The new satellite went up in a Russian Soyuz rocket and is the first of what the EU hopes will be a total of 30 satellites. The new satellite is officially called Giove-A which stands for Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element and the service itself is expected to launch sometime in 2008. The Galileo navigation system has an accuracy of 3 feet or less while GPS precision is around 15 feet. The EU launching of the satellite is also a political move by the EU in the hopes of ending reliance on US technology. There’s always the threat that the US will cut off GPS services IF there is a strategic need to do so. The EU claims it would never do this with Galileo but only time will tell.

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