EU: Galileo project in deep 'crisis'

Europe's $4.9 billion satellite navigation system is in deep crisis and will require more public funds to get back on track, the European Union said.

The Galileo project -- Europe's rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS -- has already seen major delays because the eight companies in the consortium are arguing over how to divide the workload.

The consortium of companies from France, Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy has been given until Thursday to set up a joint legal entity to run the project or risk losing control of it. But German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, speaking on behalf of the EU, said he had "little hope left" the consortium will end the infighting in time.

"Galileo is in a profound and serious crisis. We're in a dead-end street," Tiefensee said. "The cardinal problem is that the companies still have not been able to agree on the way forward. We need to find an alternative solution."

The European Commission is to present a proposal on May 16 on how to overhaul the system, which Tiefensee said Monday would not likely be operational in orbit until 2012 -- a year later than had been expected. Tiefensee said Germany, which holds the rotating six-month EU presidency, also wants more public funding for the project.

Under the original plan, European taxpayers were supposed to cover roughly one-third of the $4.9 billion project, which is to create some 150,000 jobs.

"We will hope to find another form of financing, of distributing the cost (within) a public-private partnership," Tiefensee said, adding it has not been decided whether the consortium will be able to hold on to some of the contracts.

Only one out of 30 planned satellites in the system has been launched -- in December 2005. The second satellite missed its autumn 2006 launch date after it short-circuited during final testing.

Galileo was originally to have started launching its 30 satellites -- compared to GPS's 24 -- by 2008. However, that date was postponed to 2011 due to previous disagreements between EU governments on how to pay for the system. Now, Tiefensee says it won't likely be operational until 2012.

Like GPS, Galileo is envisioned to be a network of satellites orbiting Earth that will beam radio signals to receiving devices on the ground, helping users pinpoint their locations.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/08/galileo.troubles.ap/index.html

Space storm disrupted GPS, experts say

A solar eruption in December disrupted the Global Positioning System, a satellite-based navigational system used widely by the military, scientists and civilians, researchers reported on Wednesday.

The solar flare created radio bursts that traveled to the Earth, covering a broad frequency range, the researchers said, affecting GPS and other navigational systems.

Solar flares have been known to knock out satellites and even electricity grids, but the researchers told the Space Weather Enterprise Forum this was an unexpectedly serious new effect.

"In December, we found the effect on GPS receivers were more profound and widespread than we expected," said Paul Kintner, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University in New York.

"Now we are concerned more severe consequences will occur during the next solar maximum," Kintner said in a statement.

Dale Gary of the New Jersey Institute of Technology said the burst created 10 times more radio noise than the previous record.

"Measurements with NJIT's solar radiotelescope confirmed, at its peak, the burst produced 20,000 times more radio emission than the entire rest of the Sun. This was enough to swamp GPS receivers over the entire sunlit side of Earth," Gary said in a statement.

Forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed two powerful solar flares on December 5 and 6, 2006, emanating from a large cluster of sunspots.

A giant radio burst followed, causing large numbers of receivers to stop tracking the GPS signal.

"NASA wants to better understand this solar phenomenon so we can limit the adverse impacts on real-time systems," said Tony Mannucci of the U.S. space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Anthea Coster of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the findings showed solar radio bursts can have global and instantaneous effects. "The size and timing of this burst were completely unexpected and the largest ever detected. We do not know how often we can expect solar radio bursts of this size or even larger," she said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0438594720070404?pageNumber=2