If we ask for a satellite navigation system, almost all say GPS. Right. It is the most widely used American in the 70 developed for military purposes and popular for everyone in the 90's. But not alone. There is also the Russian GLONASS, which could not reach the level of the GPS, at least until now. We'll see what happens after the huge investment they've just done. And finally, that of the other major power in these areas, China. Called Beidou. One was missing in Europe, which seems to be brewing. GALILEO will be called, and is a project of the European Union and European Space Agency, which placed 30 satellites at 23,000 km. altitude. One may wonder why invest so much money on something that already exists. It appears that neither GPS nor GLONASS reach the minimum levels of signal, precision and accuracy required for the European civil aviation. Although at first considered the possibility of creating a joint system with the U.S., they rejected the proposal on military matters. Do not forget that GPS is under military control. Galileo is under civilian control, although the recipients of the users can use both systems together. How different from today's applications will have this new system?:
- capturing distress signals of ships, aircraft or persons and indicating when help is on the way
- enforcing the European Union's fisheries to be able to locate the fish at all times
- stolen cars or locating missing persons
- providing ships, planes and trains accurate for his maneuvers
- reduce congestion by alerting the driver of retention in time, and provide an alternative route
When will list this wonder? In 2013, to get started in 2014.
