New GPS satelittes fail to go into correct orbits

[eruptn 95]

Read the news here;

 

http://www.marinelink.com/news/satellit ... 75632.aspx

[NevP 0]

Bugger! That'll be an expensive oops.

 

The headline in the article is a little misleading though. This one is a little more informative.

 

The wayward satellites are Galileo not GPS, so this won't affect GPS navigation if anyone is concerned. Galileo isn't even operational yet as there are only 4 satellites in orbit (plus these two wayward ones).

 

Galileo is the European satellite navigation system, GPS is the US system. The generic term for 'GPS' type systems is GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), which also includes systems run by Russia (GLONASS), China (BeiDou) and India (IRNSS). GLONASS is the only other system currently fully operational and some navigation devices are using it in addition to GPS. My phone uses both.