The European Union on early Sunday launched the second experimental satellite for the bloc's Galileo navigation system from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome in an effort to compete with the U.S. GPS system.

The satellite was lifted into space by a Russian Soyuz rocket at 4:16 a.m. local time (2216 GMT Saturday), said the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos).

If everything goes well, the Giove-B satellite, an over 500-kg cube built by the Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, will be placed into its designed orbit in less than four hours.

The Giove-B will test technologies to be used in the Galileo system, which the EU said is superior to the existing GPS system in coverage sphere. It can also provide navigation service for motorists, sailors, pilots and emergency rescue staff, according to the EU.

The first satellite for the Galileo system was launched in 2005.

The European Parliament gave its final approval Wednesday to the 30-satellite Galileo project, which is expected to be operational by 2013 at a cost of 3.4 billion euros (5.3 billion U.S dollars).

An EU panel to oversee the project will be created.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2008)