A second satellite for Europe's own global navigation satellite system has been successfully launched and has reached orbit. The Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE-B) satellite was carried by a Russian Soyuz-FG rocket with a Fregat booster. The launch took place at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 04:16 local time on April 27.

The satellite, designed by the European Space Agency (ESA), features three highly accurate atomic clocks, of which one is the most precise ever sent into space. GIOVE-B carries two redundant small-size rubidium atomic clocks, each with a stability of 10 nanoseconds per day, as well as the Passive Hydrogen Maser (PHM), with stability better than 1 nanosecond per day.

When Galileo will start operation, its active satellites will use four atomic clocks: two of the more accurate Passive Hydrogen Maser (PHM) clocks, which will be the primary ones, and two backup rubidium atomic clocks. The GIOVE-B is the last experimental satellite and the next step is the launch of four actual working positioning satellites by 2010. This will mark the In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase, followed by the Full Operational Capability (FOC), a constellation of 30 identical satellites.

"The strong cooperation between ESA and the European Commission has been instrumental in making progress in a difficult environment over the past few years; and, even with that being so, Galileo has already materialized, with two satellites now in orbit, significant headway made on the next four [...] all this designed to serve citizens in Europe and all around the globe," said ESA Director General Jean Jacques Dordain in Fucino.

Galileo, which should be operational by 2013, will be both an alternative and a complement to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS. It will be civilian-operated and will have two ground operations centers, one near Munich, Germany, and another in Fucino, Italy. Galileo will enable the European Union to be independent from the United States or Russia in its global positioning needs, which is essential should times of war or political disagreement occur.