It is a good thing that the US had the foresight to build their own satellite navigation system, so they do not depend on Other. Ations’s system that might fail or be shut down at short notice… :-)
All additional satnav systems exist because of a combination of strategic considerations, vanity, and hand-outs to industry. The only bad thing about Galieleo was the dishonesty of a “business case” for it, rather than being open about the real reasons why it is being built.
When I get a loss of GPS I often get a fix from GLONASS. The more the merrier, I say. Mrs May said the UK could have its own after Brexit. Yay
Which panel mounted avionics use Glonass, or Galileo?
Sure handhelds use it, but by far the main likely enemy is jamming and that will take out the whole lot.
I can’t believe the UK would really do its own GPS system. Well, it could, the technology is certainly there in the UK (which sunk some ~2BN into the Galileo white elephant) and it could do it at some small % of what the NHS spends on (say) lifestyle-induced diabetes, but the only case for building it would be a loss of all relationship with the US, and then you have much bigger problems.
Galileo has been back online for about a week now.
It doesn’t sound like anyone knows of any panel mounted avionics which use Glonass or Galileo.
Since the entire comsumer GPS product marked uses the US GPS satellites, it is no wonder that nobody noticed that Galileo was INOP and nobody noticed that it came back
Apparently the UK is so not sad about it, that… we are putting money aside to build our own!
I am amazed they are doing this. How many satellites are required?
OTOH it would be a wholly correct negotiating strategy to propose such a move, in the current climate, if you want to remain in the Galileo project
The chances of the UK putting up its own GNSS are approximately 1 in 2E-30. It’s basically sour grapes at being kicked out of Galileo, and will be quietly forgotten even before it’s costed. The UK can’t even build a high speed railway, once even a vague idea of the cost is mooted it’ll be kicked into the long grass.
There’s news about a rocket launching site near the north coast of Scotland. Access on single track roads. No rail. No seaport. Just Government vapourware.
All UK and Scottish parliament members sound like elementary school kids. By secondary school age their dreams start to be based on reality.
Surely one would launch from near the equator?
Given that practically no satnav product supports anything but the US system, this is really not a fish worth frying. Galileo was a purely political exercise anyway, perhaps justifiable as a means of directing some taxpayer money at developing some European satellite expertise.
I am sure the UK participation in Galileo was for the same reason; the UK has a fairly good satellite industry and this was a way of supporting it.