Sat-nav rival could crash and burn

location based services

European system taking on US military's GPS faces collapse over multi-billion-pound deficit Robin McKie, science editorSunday July 15, 2007The Observer
For the past 18 months, a small box-shaped satellite has been circling Earth, beaming down information from its radiation detectors and atomic clocks. The British-built probe is modest by modern space technology standards. Yet great hopes are riding with Giove-A, for it is intended to be the forerunner of a fleet of 30 satellites that will provide Europe with an alternative to reliance on American technology.
Giove-A is a test satellite for Galileo, a multi-billion-pound European Union project to provide pilots, farmers, trawler fishermen, truck drivers, mobile phone owners, businessmen and private citizens with the means to pinpoint their positions to a few centimetres. Using Galileo, motorists will be charged for each second they spend on roads, while the blind could be provided with guides to help them move around cities in safety