Paris (AFP)

Galileo, Europe's European satellite navigation system, remained silent on Tuesday, five days after an enigmatic problem "related to its ground infrastructure".

"It is not uncommon for a complex global navigation system such as Galileo, in a phase + initial services +, to experience temporary problems affecting the quality of the signal," the European Commission told AFP.

The European GPS, which will eventually include about thirty satellites, will be fully operational in 2020 but its first services, its "initial services", are available since December 2016.

An emblematic project of the European Commission, Galileo aims to reduce Europe's dependence on US GPS, while improving services to users.

The main asset promised by Galileo compared to its rivals American (GPS), Russian (Glonass) and Chinese (BeiDou): a positioning of unequaled precision, of the order of the meter, even a few centimeters for the paid service.

But since Friday, the system remains silent "affected by a technical incident related to its infrastructure on the ground", which caused "a temporary interruption of initial navigation and synchronization services," according to a statement from the European Aviation Safety Agency. satellite navigation (GSA).

An incident that the GSA does not detail but it relates to the young age of the system still in pilot phase: "If the current incident is very regrettable, it is precisely to cope with these first technical incidents that the EU deploys gradually Galileo ".

Hundreds of millions of users (via their smartphone, their connected tools ...) have automatically switched to the US (GPS) or Russian (Glonass) navigation systems which they always access simultaneously.

- Daily uses -

The search and rescue service, used to rescue people in distress, for example at sea or in the mountains, remains operational.

Initiated in 1999, the Galileo program had a very complicated start. The delays were chained, the costs have increased sharply, reaching about 10 billion euros.

And this is not the first technical problem of the constellation: malfunctions had been observed in particular on some of the atomic clocks embedded in the twenty or so satellites. The cause has been identified and steps have been taken to prevent the navigation service from being affected, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

"At present, experts are working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to restore Galileo services (...) as quickly as possible before the system becomes fully operational," AFP told AFP. European Commission.

Some 10% of European GDP today depends on satellite positioning systems, and by 2030 this percentage could rise to around 30%.

Because a satellite navigation program is not just about finding the right route. Today positioning services have invaded our lives. Order a pizza, share your location on social networks, prepare a marathon ... The number of applications based on satellite navigation continues to grow.

Connected objects are also more and more likely to pass through satellites to communicate, such as the sensor proposed to seniors and who sends an SOS in case of a fall, the collar that monitors the health of your cat, the tag that allows find your keys or locate your children at any time.

? 2019 AFP