Europe has a problem -- specifically, a satellite problem.

Seven years ago, in a bid to assert its independence from reliance on data from America's Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), the European Union activated its own GPS system -- Galileo. Similar in size to the GPS system, Galileo, at last report, had 28 satellites in orbit. Unfortunately, only 24 of these are still functional.    

Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) is aware of this and plans to launch 10 new Galileo satellites to top off the constellation, keep it fully functional, and have spares in place for when the next satellite(s) go defunct. A new class of powerful, economical Ariane 6 rockets from Airbus (OTC: EADSY) subsidiary ArianeGroup is slated to put the new satellites into orbit.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com