Europe successfully launched the satellite under Galileo navigation system

Arianespace Group on May 24 announced that the Russian Soyuz-ST rocket has been successfully launched into orbit carrying two new satellites for Europe's Galileo global positioning satellite system.

The launch was carried out at the Kourou space airport in the French island of Guiana in the morning with local time (8:48 am Hanoi time).

After nearly 4 hours of flying, the 13th and 14th satellites went into orbit.

Soyuz boosters carry Galileo 9 and 10 satellites leaving the launch pad at the satellite launch center in French Guiana on September 11, 2015.(Source: AFP / VNA).

According to the head of Arianespace Stefan Israel, the launch is part of the Galileo program as one of the steps to ensure European independence in the field of positioning satellites.

This is the seventh satellite navigation launched on Galileo global positioning satellite system.

This year, the European Space Agency (ESA) is expected to launch the next Galileo satellite into orbit in November, thanks to Europe's Ariane-5S heavy rocket.

Galileo Global Positioning Satellite System is a competitor to the US and GLONASS GPS navigation satellites. As planned, Galileo system will be completed in 2020.

According to calculations by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Galileo system could be operational after 24 satellites were launched into orbit, but ESA had placed 26.

It is expected that in the coming time, the number of satellites to be put on Galileo system may be 30.

Currently, the European Union (EU) has spent more than 5 billion euros on the Galileo program, estimated to be up to 7 billion euros in 2020.