The European Union has launched the second and final
test satellite for its £2.65bn rival to the
US Global Positioning System (GPS)platform,
reports Reuters.
The Sunday launch was part of the ongoing
Galileo project, which is Europe's single biggest space
programme.
The project has been plagued by funding delays, and was only
finally approved when the EU committed further public money to the
project when private sector firms pulled out over profitability
concerns.
The EU says the project is justified on both scientific and
commercial grounds, particularly as the number of personal devices
that currently rely on GPS technology is spiralling.
The experimental Giove-B satellite was launched from Kazakhstan,
and will test technologies such as a high-precision atomic clock
and the triple-channel transmission of navigation signals.
Galileo will start delivering commercial services in 2013, the
EU has said.