Galileo project update

I have blogged several times before about the waste of money that is the EU's Galileo system. Today, I see on the BBC that "Giove-B, the second demonstrator spacecraft for Europe's proposed satellite navigation system, is finally to be sent for launch... Giove-B, the second demonstrator spacecraft for Europe's proposed satellite navigation system, is finally to be sent for launch."


There then follows a puff piece for Galileo including these two statements:

"The European Commission and the European Space Agency, which together are driving the Galileo venture, hope such technologies can bring a leap forward in performance over the existing American GPS (Global Positioning System).

They believe improvements in accuracy and reliability can spark a multi-billion-euro industry in which receivers find their way into many more markets - from mobile phones to safety-critical applications such as guided trains and buses. "




The financing does get an uncritical mention:

"The sat-nav venture came close to being cancelled last year when the private consortium selected to build and operate the system collapsed.

European Union finance ministers had to step in with a 3.4bn-euro public funding package to keep Galileo alive.

Galileo cannot truly proceed until the money is released, and that requires the formal agreement of the EU's legislative arms."


The report continues:

"A raft of technical issues have to be addressed if Galileo is to become a fully functioning civil sat-nav service that, unlike military systems, gives guarantees to users over performance.

Issues such as liability have to be sorted out; who would pay out, and how much, for example, if a Galileo failure was found to be the cause of an aeroplane crashing? "




Of course nowhere does anyone ask why bother when the American GPS system works and costs us nothing. Is there any good reason, other than EU prestige to go ahead with this project?