Europe Reluctantly Chooses SpaceX to Launch Its GPS Satellites::Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to undertake its first launch of European satellites equipped with classified technology, specifically for the Galileo system.

  • anlumo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why is ESA launching satellites for the US military Global Positioning System?

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The headline has been dumbed down for Americans who think all global sat nav is “GPS.”

      That said, if you read the article, is does say that this is for Galileo, not GPS.

      • snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Alright but Global Positioning System is also a description of what all of them do, even if it’s the name of a specific constellation it’s not inaccurate to refer to the others as that. Even though it’s not technically correct it’s… actually I could argue that they’re all technically systems used to give positioning information globally.

        • anlumo@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Maybe that would be an argument if they used lower-case global positioning system rather than specifically GPS.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yawn.

        Its a global positioning system, which has become a generic term (and has been since the late 90’s). Just because you use the term “satnav” doesn’t mean everyone does.

        That term never caught on in the US, and was hardly used even 30 years ago (I say this as someone who adopted portable satnav as soon as it was available to consumers).

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    SpaceX has reached a deal to launch four Galileo satellites next year in coordination with the European Space Agency, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

    Two launches on Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rockets will add to the 28 satellites currently orbiting Earth in Europe’s global navigation system.

    (tldr: 1 sentences skipped)

    A spokesperson for the European Commission told the WSJ they are “taking all necessary steps to ensure that the Galileo constellation continues to provide outstanding services in the coming months and years.”

    The Falcon 9 rockets carrying Galileo satellites will launch from the United States, according to the European Space Agency’s Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto.

    The European Commission is not eager to rely on a U.S. company to deliver critical infrastructure into space, but the war in Russia and delays in Europe’s Ariane rocket program have left the continent with no other options, officials say.

    (tldr: 10 sentences skipped)

    The six-year mission to investigate the dark universe just recently found its guide stars again after a rocky start that has been far from smooth sailing.

    (tldr: 1 sentences skipped)


    The original article contains 374 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • silencioso@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    In 20 years, the EU have spent 10 billion in taxpayer money to send only 26 satellites to orbit (almost 400 million each). A SpaceX Falcon 9 can send almost 10 Galileo satellites to MEO at once for 62 million. So the question is not why they are hiring SpaceX now but why haven’t they used SpaceX before?

    (Falcon 9’s capacity to MEO is 8,000 kg, and the typical Galileo satellite weighs 738 kg).

    • LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch
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      1 year ago

      Because the goal of the government isn’t to turn a profit. Ideally, government funded needs should be used to create jobs in the country or region that government is in charge of.

      If everyone switched to SpaceX for their launches, then they’d be handing a monopoly to Elon, and nobody wants that. Instead they need to be funding their own space program and drive down the costs to be competitive with SpaceX so they can be self sufficient.

      It’s a problem that they need to use SpaceX right now, for several reasons.

    • Toine@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      The launch costs of Galileo satellites were much cheaper than 400 millions per satellite. The budget you mention covers the global development, deployment and continuous operation of the project.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      SpaceX is still overall bleeding money, kept afloat by more suckers buying into it as well as the US government overpaying for launches.

    • Marius@lemmy.mariusdavid.fr
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      1 year ago

      Ariane 6 service start got late. Not Ariane 5 decommisionning. So they end with no Ariane launcher for some time.

      • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s some poor planning. Am not sure how big the satellites are, but ESA does have smaller rockets. Also JAXA is there, as well as some others. Kind of surprised they went with SpaceX.

  • Vub@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why the hell would they voluntarily give a deal to a well known con man/scammer? Do they not read the news? This is a pretty big deal so the decision makes them look really bad and incompetent.

    • tinkeringidiot@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      SpaceX launches rockets multiple times per week (just here in Florida) at a great price and has an almost unbelievable success record. Second place isn’t even close.

      Elon Musk is a nut job, but for anyone that needs to put anything in orbit SpaceX is really the best option.

        • Longpork_afficianado@lemmy.nz
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          1 year ago

          I personally think that it is incredibly irresponsible to give musk any control over the deployment of critical infrastructure after his stunts in Ukraine. What guarantees do we have that he is not backdooring these satellites while they are in his posession so that he can shutdown Galileo on a whim in the same way he did with starlink?