weakened, as the impact of the technological leap that would have allowed Galileo
to exceed the performance of the American GPS had failed.
In 2008, the European Union reached an agreement with the US on common
rules of use and interoperability between GPS and Galileo, with a pragmatic act
of Realpolitik
44
– a term we will discuss more closely in Part II of this book.
Europeans started launching their satellites after a few years, and in 2016 Galileo
was declared operational,
45
although the entire space network was only completed at the end of 2019, with 22 operative satellites. The development of the
third generation of GPS is still ongoing. The program was subject to several
delays due to complications in setting up the new atomic clock, but nevertheless,
the first satellite was successfully launched at the end of 2018 by a SpaceX
Falcon rocket.
46
Yet if the Americans have problems, the Europeans don’t sleep soundly either:
nine clocks on the 18 orbiting Galileo satellites have stopped working since
2017.
47
Luckily, ESA has provided two rubidium devices and two hydrogen
masers for each satellite, so the service has never stopped. Still, it seems evident
that it will take several years for the signal quality of the European system to stabilize to the point of becoming a world standard. Moreover, the Galileo global
navigation satellite system was down for four days in July 2019 following a mysterious outage, raising all sort of doubts about its efficacy against potential hackers
and jammers.
As of 2020, China has completed the Beidou satellite network
48
with five satellites in geostationary orbit, 30 in low Earth orbit and as many as 26 control stations located in 21 different countries around the world. For some years already,
signals from the first satellites launched by the Chinese space agency have been
used in many Asian regions.
The competition between Galileo, GPS and Beidou comes down to a technological and political confrontation between nations for the control of time and
navigation on Earth. It is a space-based chronowar whose goal is not simply to
support increasingly sophisticated and lethal weapons, but also to compete for the
commercial monopoly of a global digital society. We have gotten used to life with
44
Dolmann, Everett. 2001. Astropolitik: Classical Geopolitics in the Space Age. Frank Cass
Publishers, 3–4.
45
European Commission Press Release. 2016. Galileo Goes Live.
46
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/spacex-2018-gps-iii-first-national-securitymission/.
47
Amos, Jonathan. 2017. Galileo Satellites Experiencing Multiple Clock Failures. BBC Science
Correspondent. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38664225.
48
https://www.space.com/china-launches-final-beidou-navigation-satellite.html.
64 GPS: The Stellar Clock
to exceed the performance of the American GPS had failed.
In 2008, the European Union reached an agreement with the US on common
rules of use and interoperability between GPS and Galileo, with a pragmatic act
of Realpolitik
44
– a term we will discuss more closely in Part II of this book.
Europeans started launching their satellites after a few years, and in 2016 Galileo
was declared operational,
45
although the entire space network was only completed at the end of 2019, with 22 operative satellites. The development of the
third generation of GPS is still ongoing. The program was subject to several
delays due to complications in setting up the new atomic clock, but nevertheless,
the first satellite was successfully launched at the end of 2018 by a SpaceX
Falcon rocket.
46
Yet if the Americans have problems, the Europeans don’t sleep soundly either:
nine clocks on the 18 orbiting Galileo satellites have stopped working since
2017.
47
Luckily, ESA has provided two rubidium devices and two hydrogen
masers for each satellite, so the service has never stopped. Still, it seems evident
that it will take several years for the signal quality of the European system to stabilize to the point of becoming a world standard. Moreover, the Galileo global
navigation satellite system was down for four days in July 2019 following a mysterious outage, raising all sort of doubts about its efficacy against potential hackers
and jammers.
As of 2020, China has completed the Beidou satellite network
48
with five satellites in geostationary orbit, 30 in low Earth orbit and as many as 26 control stations located in 21 different countries around the world. For some years already,
signals from the first satellites launched by the Chinese space agency have been
used in many Asian regions.
The competition between Galileo, GPS and Beidou comes down to a technological and political confrontation between nations for the control of time and
navigation on Earth. It is a space-based chronowar whose goal is not simply to
support increasingly sophisticated and lethal weapons, but also to compete for the
commercial monopoly of a global digital society. We have gotten used to life with
44
Dolmann, Everett. 2001. Astropolitik: Classical Geopolitics in the Space Age. Frank Cass
Publishers, 3–4.
45
European Commission Press Release. 2016. Galileo Goes Live.
46
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/spacex-2018-gps-iii-first-national-securitymission/.
47
Amos, Jonathan. 2017. Galileo Satellites Experiencing Multiple Clock Failures. BBC Science
Correspondent. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38664225.
48
https://www.space.com/china-launches-final-beidou-navigation-satellite.html.
64 GPS: The Stellar Clock