EU launches new "GPS" System into Space
Discussion
tinman0 said:
dont get me started on this EU project and the daft american general who gave a speech in front of the EU that made this all possible 
>> Edited by tinman0 on Wednesday 28th December 21:01
Enlighten me. Is this General you mention associated with the part of the article pointing to the "agreement between US and EU"?
jimbeaux said:
dont get me started on this EU project and the daft american general who gave a speech in front of the EU that made this all possible
Enlighten me. Is this General you mention associated with the part of the article pointing to the "agreement between US and EU"?
galileo was one of those projects that was going nowhere particulary quickly. alot of people had agreed it was a great way to spend money, but when budgets come down to it at the EU - French farmers first, and any suplus in the budget - French farmers get it. Its a nice constant in the world of gravy trains.
but about 2 years ago (and for some reason I was watching it or read the transcript or something) a daft Amerian General was making a speech to some EU boffins. The speech was all about how the world was free to use the GPS system the Americans had developed yadder yadder yadder. Most people were asleep until he said the bit "but we reserve the right to turn it off".
Doh.
everyone knew that America reserved the right to turn it off but it was one of those things you forgot about. But for a daft old brush to stand on a stage and tell the biggest bunch of mafia on the face of the planet about how to spend another 2.5b Euros - its an opportunity they couldn't miss. if they have to spend 2.5b its an opportunity to raise at least 5b.
Zod said:
I am not usually a subscriber to the moe paranoid notions that get some people excited, but I do worry that the EU governments will want to use these satellites for more than navigation systems. Vehicle tracking and speed logging is likely to be high on their list of priorities.
Not possible without extra kit. Even the new euro GPS system is passive. No uplink channel from the device.
Zod said:
I am not usually a subscriber to the moe paranoid notions that get some people excited, but I do worry that the EU governments will want to use these satellites for more than navigation systems. Vehicle tracking and speed logging is likely to be high on their list of priorities.
EU plans for vehicle speed control and tolling have been openly related to this scheme....
Thought everyone knew.........
You're very welcome to correct me but im sure that the US government didn't provide GPS systems with <4ft precision because terrorists/general nutters could quite easily wire up a missile to go through the window of george dubya's window. Why would any civilian really need this extreme level of precision??? IMHO they have to offset the lack of new scameras with big, accurate cameras in the sky to provide mr plod with the evidence that you were travelling at 79mph on a motorway, whilst sir numptie rattles past with foglights on, a tax disk from '98 and enough alcohol in the driver's bloodstream to knock out an elephant.
Eric Mc said:
So what, Britain's getting its slice of the action - the test satellite was built in Guildford.
I don't see why we should be dependent on the US for such technology anyway.
>> Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 28th December 22:32
"And so we are ill-informed" : http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
The EU getting into bed with China - a country consistently seeking to reduce the technological gap between itself and the US. THe French are only too happy to try and do it their way -but Galileo has sinister aspects as well as cause for concerns about national security. But whatever cockups, points of pride and white elephants, rest assured the whole proect is financially secure as guess who is underwriting it? Yep - you, me and our children - whatever the bureaucrats and French decide, we pay.
GPS is free, it works, and if you find yourself suffering from a degradation in, or loss of, service, you are either in the wrong place at the wrong time or have been stupid enough to annoy the world's most successful superpower - find a VERY deep hole to hide in - otherwise happy wondering!
Petrol_noggin said:
You're very welcome to correct me but im sure that the US government didn't provide GPS systems with <4ft precision because terrorists/general nutters could quite easily wire up a missile to go through the window of george dubya's window. Why would any civilian really need this extreme level of precision???
i thought the high definition level had be turned up for several years now. i cant see them worrying about terrorist missiles considering the palestinians have fired hundreds of their own home grown missile into Israel over the years and have yet to hit anything. (apart from a field).
And the American system is free - to everyone apart from the American taxpayers, who obviously paid for it (and still do). It's about time the Europeans had their own system as I said and not be dependent on another sovereign state who could pull the plug if they so wished.
And don't tell me the Americans don't do business with China. I admit they do have reservations with letting the Chinese have access to some of the latest American technology, but it still didn't stopped McDonnell Douglas (for instance) setting up a sub-contract agreement with China over the MD-90 airliner (and that was back in 1989/90).
And don't tell me the Americans don't do business with China. I admit they do have reservations with letting the Chinese have access to some of the latest American technology, but it still didn't stopped McDonnell Douglas (for instance) setting up a sub-contract agreement with China over the MD-90 airliner (and that was back in 1989/90).
matchless said:This one uses GPS, not Galileo.
do you think it could be to do with this?
www.norwichunion.com/pay-as-you-drive/index.htm
The thing that pisses me off about Galileo is that is *was* going to be a system separate to (and incompatible with) the US GPS system. Okay, we have to buy new receivers, BUT it was going to be massively more accurate - 10cm resolution IIRC. The US DoD decided this was not a good thing as they had no control over the system and could not fudge parts of it in a time of war, so pressured the EU to make it essentially identical to the US system.
We will therefore have two idential systems in operation BOTH of which will be fudged by the Yanks as and when they please. POINTLESS...!
Now the whole point of Galileo was that it could be used for PRIMARY navigation on aircraft, ships etc. As soon as you allow people to deliberately bugger with the accuracy you remove the possibility of using it for that type of navigation, so all in all, it's completely
useless...! Might has well stuck with the US one as it was free for us Euros....!
>> Edited by roop on Wednesday 28th December 23:46
We will therefore have two idential systems in operation BOTH of which will be fudged by the Yanks as and when they please. POINTLESS...!
Now the whole point of Galileo was that it could be used for PRIMARY navigation on aircraft, ships etc. As soon as you allow people to deliberately bugger with the accuracy you remove the possibility of using it for that type of navigation, so all in all, it's completely
useless...! Might has well stuck with the US one as it was free for us Euros....! >> Edited by roop on Wednesday 28th December 23:46
All the Big Brother stuff is possible already using GPS. This is purely about who controls the satellites. Well, almost entirely. There is already the Russian GLONASS system which is independent of the US. Part of it's about who's got the biggest dick.
GPS civilian code was designed to provide pretty low accuracy using the sort of technology that was about before home computers. The improved accuracy available now is due to the big advances in receiver technology over the past decades.
GPS civilian code was designed to provide pretty low accuracy using the sort of technology that was about before home computers. The improved accuracy available now is due to the big advances in receiver technology over the past decades.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff