Europe’s Galileo satellite navigationsystem, a rival of the American GPS network, is back in service after a six-day outage, its oversight agency said on Thursday.

“Commercial users can already see signs of recovery of the Galileo navigation and timing services, although some fluctuations may be experienced until further notice,” the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency said in a statement.

The system of 22 orbiting satellites, which helps to pinpoint and track mobile telephone users and vehicles, began experiencing problems last Friday.

Only the search and rescue function, which helps locate boat crews or hikers in distress, was unaffected.

The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency said the problem was due to an equipment malfunction in the ground control centres that make time and orbit predictions for the satellites.

Galileo has been in a pilot phase since December 2016 and devices that use its signal should be able to switch to GPS or Glonass, the Russian satellite navigation system.

It is due to become fully operational next year, offering a civilian, European alternative to the US and Russian-controlled networks.

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Europe’s GPS rival Galileo suffers outage

Brussels (AFP) July 15, 2019


Europe’s Galileo satellite position system, a future rival of the American GPS network, has been out of service since Friday, its oversight agency said.

The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) said the outage was caused by a “technical incident related to its ground infrastructure”.

Galileo has been in a pilot phase since December 2016 and devices that use its signal should be able to switch to GPS services while it is fixed.

“The incident has led to a temporary interru … read more