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The European network of Galileo satellites – used by satellites, financial institutions and much more – is in crisis. The system has been down since Friday, which means that travelers (and others) in Europe have had to fall back on the US Global Positioning System (GPS) – or even on Russian or Chinese systems.
Galileo has been struck by what is described as a "technical incident related to its terrestrial infrastructure", and it is unclear when the situation will be corrected.
The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) said the incident only affected Galileo's initial navigation and synchronization services. He points out that "the SAR service – used to locate and assist people in distress, for example at sea or in the mountains – is not affected and remains operational".
Galileo is currently in the testing phase and the FCC has only recently approved US smartphones. By posting on its website, the GSA says:
Galileo has been providing "initial services" since December 2016. During this initial "pilot" phase preceding the "full operational services" phase, Galileo signals are used in conjunction with other satellite navigation systems, allowing to detect technical problems before the system becomes fully operational.
The experts are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible. An anomaly review committee was immediately set up to analyze the exact root cause and implement recovery actions.
Considered more reliable than existing GPS solutions, this failure will cause red faces, even if this happened during the test phase.
Progress updates on the problem will be posted on the GSA website.
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