, Columnist
The EU Suffers From a Navigation Failure
The world needs Galileo, the European satellite navigation system. But it needs to work reliably.
Have you tried switching it off and on again?
Photographer: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images EuropeThis article is for subscribers only.
The European Union’s satellite navigation system, Galileo, has been down since July 11. The outage, the longest-ever of such a service, highlights how difficult it will be to wean the world off its dependence on the U.S., Russian and Chinese militaries for critical (and lucrative) navigation services.
At the time of writing, Galileo’s 24 satellites were listed as “not usable” on the system’s website. No time frame has been announced for bringing them back online, and no specific explanation has been provided beyond a reference to “a technical incident related to ground infrastructure.”