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Europe launches first of GPS satellites

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Europe launches first of GPS satellites

Effort seeks end to dependence on US military system

The European Union yesterday launched the first satellite in its ambitious Galileo global positioning system, directly challenging the American military’s dominance over strategically and commercially critical satellite-guided navigational systems.

‘’The satellite is up in space and transmitting signals,” said Franco Bonacina, spokesman for the European Space Agency, shortly after the unit hurtled into space atop a Soyuz booster launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Scientists and journalists in Europe monitored the launch on computer linkups through the space agency’s headquarters in Paris. The Galileo system is Europe’s largest ongoing space project.

‘’This is an important step for Europe,” Bonacina said. ‘’It’s a tool that Europe is giving itself that will be independent of the American system, although it will be [technologically] compatible with the American system.”

The $4.3 billion civilian program will eventually hoist 30 satellites into space, ending Europe’s dependence on global positioning systems controlled by the US military.

More: boston.com

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