First satellite of the Galileo system in orbit
2006/01/02 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia
With a total of thirty satellites, the first has already been launched; the European Space Agency, ESA, has begun to install the Galileo system, a European satellite positioning system similar to the current US GPS. The GPS system is still used mostly for military purposes, but Galileo believes it will have civil use. From this point of view, it will allow not to use the GPS, but both systems will be complementary in many scientific projects. In short, if the twenty-nine GPS satellites add the thirty of the Galileo, they can get a huge tool for use in studies of geology, ecology and other fields. At the moment only one has been launched, the GIOVE-A, which, being the first, aims to explore the environment. Because all satellites will have to work 23,000 kilometers from the terrestrial surface and ESA has never put a satellite in that orbit. The International Space Station, for example, is about 400 kilometers from the Earth's surface. The difference is great. Therefore, before launching all the satellites of Galileo, it is necessary to analyze well the situation of the area, for example, the radiation that exists. Galileo starts to space.Photo: ESA ESA
