China to Help Europe Develop GPS1 Rival

China is to contribute to a new global satellite navigation system being developed by European nations. The Galileo satellite system2 ____1____ a more accurate civilian alternative3 to the Global Positioning System (GPS), operated by the US military. China will provide 230m Euros (USD 259m)4 in ___2___and will cooperate with technical, manufacturing and market development. “China will help Galileo to ____3_____ the major world infrastructure for the growing market for location services,” said Loyola de Palacio, EU transport commissioner.

A new center that will coordinate co-operation was also announced __4___ the European Commission5, the European Space Agency (ESA)6 and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology not long ____5____. The China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technical Training and Cooperation Center will be ___6____ at Beijing University. China has a substantial satellite launch industry and could potentially help launch the Galileo satellites.

The US has claimed that Galileo could interfere____7____ the US ability to downgrade the GPS service during military conflicts. European officials say this is unfounded and counter that US opposition ____8___ the commercial challenge Galileo would present to GPS. Galileo will be precise to within a meter, while the civilian GPS service is accurate to around 10 meters.

The Galileo satellite constellation7 will ____9____ 27 operational and three reserve satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 23,600 km. The satellites will be strung8 along three medium-Earth orbits at 56 degrees inclination to the equator and will provide global coverage. The system should be operational by 2008 and the entire project is expected to ___10___ around 3.2 billion Euros (USD 3.6 billion).

The European Commission has said Galileo will primarily be used for transportation technology, scientific research, land management and disaster monitoring.

Galileo will provide two signals; a standard civilian one and an encrypted, wide-band signal ___11___ the Public Regulated Service (PRS)9. This second signal is designed to withstand localized jamming and will be used by police and military services in Europe. European Commission ____12_____ have said China will not be given access to the PRS10.

The first Galileo satellite is scheduled to launch late in 2004. Clocks on board11 the _____13____ will be synchronized12 through 20 ground sensors stations, two command centers and 15 uplink stations.

Receivers on the ground will use time signals from the satellites to precisely calculate their ____14____. A “search and rescue” function will also ____15____ distress signals13 be relayed through the constellation of satellites.

1. A) offer        B) offered        C) will offer      D) has offered

2. A) funding      B) providing      C) paying          D) charging

3. A) build        B) use            C) become          D) do

4. A) in           B) at             C) on              D) by

5. A) before       B) ago            C) after           D) later

6. A) found        B) produced       C) positioned      D) located

7. A) with         B) for            C) about           D) above

8. A) results in   B) gives rise to  C) is due to       D) causes

9. A) be made from B) consist of     C) consist in      D) be consisted of

10. A) spend       B) gain           C) give            D) cost

11. A) offered     B) called         C) used            D) turned

12. A) officials   B) countries       C) organization   D) agreement

13. A) /           B) the satellite     C) the satellites D) satellites

14. A) speed       B) direction        C) distance        D) location

15. A) send        B) let             C) allow          D) transmit

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