The European satellite navigation system, Galileo, which is in a pilot phase, is "currently affected by a technical incident related to its ground infrastructure", the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) announced in a statement on Sunday 14 July.
According to the European Union Agency, the incident, which occurred on 11 July, resulted in a temporary interruption of Galileo's initial navigation and timing services, with the exception of the SAR search and rescue service, the service used to locate and assist people in distress (particularly at sea).
An Anomaly Review Board was "immediately established" to analyse the exact root cause and implement recovery actions, the Agency, based in Prague, added.
The European Commission has not commented on how long it might take to resolve the technical problem. However, we are informed that the technical incident will not affect the current small number of users, since Galileo, during the pilot phase, is combined with other satellite navigation systems.
"There are undoubtedly multiple causes. Which will require multiple answers. This is in view of the complexity and size of the system. I have learned this from my useful experience commissioning another space system, Copernicus", tweets Philippe Brunet, who for many years was responsible for the Earth observation programme in the European Commission's DG Internal Market and Industry (see EUROPE 12150/23).
The European Galileo programme has been in a pilot phase since the end of 2016. This phase is expected to end in 2020. There are still 4 satellites left to put into orbit, until the constellation is completed.
Galileo has already experienced a previous technical incident, albeit of a completely different nature, which had directly affected satellite atomic clocks (see EUROPE 11708/8). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)