Making dire predictions about the organisational abilities of the European Union is a fairly safe bet I reckon, but even I have been taken aback by the speed with which this prediction (from early April):
“So, cue another round of horse-trading, bickering and monumental waste as each part of the Galileo project is apportioned out according to who makes the most noise. The French will build the electrics, the Italians will build the housing, the Belgians will make the navigation system, the Germans will make the rocket boosters, the Spanish will make the launch platform, the Austrians will make the sandwiches and Sweden will provide the environmental protestors.”
has become this reality:
“Germany and Italy are fighting it out within the European Space Agency for the right to provide the main production base for the satellite system, to which EU governments gave the green light in March.
Their dispute has prevented the ESA from beginning work on the project and risks setting back its projected completion date of 2008.”
I submit that I am entitled to enjoy a brief frisson of self-congratulation.
[My thanks to Philip Chaston for the second link]
Is it true that the EU has made GPS technology “illegal” in order to promote this new and improved Galileo system?
And can EUrope survive Galileo only to return to the dreaded American GPS?
Erm, no. Galileo, if it were to run, would start up in 2005 and reach full operational capabilities in 2008. It is designed for interoperability with both GPS and GLONASS, but the EU is advertising it on the grounds of greater capabilities.
Here is the article:
http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20020329S0037
Hope that URL works