Soyuz-Fregat launch vehicle carrying GIOVE-B on launch pad. Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja 2008

Gallileo Giove-B launched

A demonstrator spacecraft for Europe's proposed Galileo satellite navigation system has launched from Kazakhstan.

A BBC News report says:

The Giove-B satellite was taken into space atop a Soyuz rocket which left Earth at 2216 GMT, Saturday.

The demonstrator will test the key technologies which will eventually be built into the 30 operational platforms that form the Galileo network.

Giove-B - a half-tonne, 2.4 x 1 x 1m box assembled by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space - is the second demonstrator satellite to go into orbit following the launch of Giove-A in 2005.

The first mission met international obligations to claim the frequencies Galileo will use to transmit its signals to receivers on the ground.

If all of the technologies in Giove-B work as predicted, engineers will be clear to launch the first four operational satellites in 2010.

Full capability has been set for the end of 2013.

Read the full BBC report with videos at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7369460.stm

Watch the ESA video:
GIOVE: Solid foundation for Galileo
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