I'm confused how the US could stop anyone from using the GPS system...
I guess if the US were to shut the satellites off?
French Guyana is part of Europe.
Can someone explain the 'inclination' part in more detail? To my Neanderthal brain it sounds like the angle of the or it around the earth. But then I wonder why it matters - these are the first two satellites of a constellation, so won't they need them in lots of different inclinations? Can't they refactor these and still use them as they are?
If I remember correctly from my time in the Army the satellites send out multiple signals. US military equipment uses a different one that civilian GPS receivers. The reason is so that in a war zone the civilian signal can be set to be less accurate. They have never done it though and I think there was a bill preventing it in the future.
This is not the point.
But to answer your question, noone would have thought 10 years ago that the EU and Russia would boycott each other. Europe relies heavily on Russian gas and now everyone regrets it.
Just get the basic things done yourself. Learn to feed your family with your own means. No need to rely on others when you don't have to. Europe has the ability to get an own navigation system, so we should do it instead of sucking the tits of the USA. Backlashes are part of the way to get there, but you'll learn from them. Just like in real life.
I can't explain it better than wikipedia, so here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination
You do need multiple satellites but if their orbits are unpredictable you don't really get a good fix. It'll sometimes take 1/8th of a second for the pings to reach you and sometimes 1/16th because of the elliptical orbit. If the satellite also orbits at a different speed than planned the clock will go too fast or slow.I'm not a rocket scientist, all this may be wrong
It's a shame, but I don't think should (or will) affect seriously the viability of the project, that should move forward.
We (Europe/EU) should work to be less dependant on others, including the US. They have their system, great for them. We should have ours.
ok that fits with what my initial thoughts were. If they can fix the elliptical nature and altitude of the orbit (which is sounds like they might be able to do - using up most of the fuel planned for lifetime adjustments), then I don't see why they can't be usable in some way?
And after it has deployed? Enact some stupid legislation requiring all smartphones sold in the EU to use this system rather than GPS which they all use? Otherwise what's the point - they'll just be orbiting white elephants
Just get the basic things done yourself. Learn to feed your family with your own means. No need to rely on others when you don't have to. Europe has the ability to get an own navigation system, so we should do it instead of sucking the tits of the USA. Backlashes are part of the way to get there, but you'll learn from them. Just like in real life.