The European satellite positioning system Galileo, a competitor of the American GPS, knows since Friday a "service outage" related to a "technical incident", said the EU agency responsible for its implementation.
Galileo "is currently affected by a technical incident related to its ground infrastructure", which caused "a temporary interruption of initial navigation and synchronization services", according to a statement from the European Agency for Satellite Navigation Systems (GSA ).
22 satellites in orbit
The system, which has been operational since the end of 2016, is still in the pilot phase, with services described as "initial". This means that the signals are not always available and must be used in addition to other systems such as the American GPS.
With 22 satellites in orbit, these signals provide positioning and time measurement information for private mobile phones, or connected vehicles or railways and airplanes.
The full operational capacity of Galileo is expected for 2020
The search and rescue service provided by Galileo, used to rescue people in distress, for example at sea or in the mountains, is on its side "not affected" by the breakdown and "remains operational", said the European agency. Experts "are at work to restore the situation as quickly as possible" for other services, she added.
The full operational capability of Galileo, with a "complete constellation" of satellites and guaranteed worldwide availability, is expected by 2020. The EU wants to make it a credible alternative to the US GPS and the Russian system. It highlights the greater precision of the European system, and the fact that Galileo, unlike its competitors, is under civilian and non-military control.