Rocket-fuelled star wars

Ariane 5 rockets skywards

In a few hours time the European Space Agency is set to launch one of the most advanced civil communications satellites into space.

The launch is the first of a series of European launches designed to win back American domination of space-based navigation and monitoring.

Taking off from the unlikely location of the South American rainforest of French Guiana - whose Northeren coast nestles close to the equator - it is one of the most important launches for a decade.

Eighteen thousand people work at the Spaceport for Europe's Space Corps. Many of them are now putting the finishing touches on the Artemis satellite.

A non-military system

Engineers are gowned and masked like surgeons tending to Artemis - the most advanced civil telecommunications satellite ever built.

Europe: casting anxious eyes skywards

Its creator Gottard Openheizer says Artemis will be part of a new European space based navigation system to rival the American-run global positioning system - or GPS.

"We feel in Europe that we should have an independent system, that is performing better than the actual GPS system, and one that is not necessarily controlled by the American military system," he said.

Planes, ships and increasingly people in cars and on foot rely on GPS to help find their way.

Benefit to the human race

Many working for the Space corps believe that such a strategic resource should not be controlled soley by the Americans.

Europe's goal: an all-seeing eye in the sky

Franco Bonochina said: "It's all about investments returning to European industry, returning to European jobs, returning to European technology: to the benefit of human beings on the ground".

In a few months time Artemis will be joined by Envisat - a European satellite designed to monitor environmental conditions on Earth.

It'll do exactly the same job as an American satellite already up in space. So why spend billions of Euros doubling up on the US?

Under pressure

As a rainstorm pounds the launch area, the final preparations are being made to the powerful Arianne five rocket that will send Artemis into space.

The man in charge, Bernard Pruigonyet, knows what's at stake in what's set to be a ferocious battle for the domination of the skies.

"There's 150 people in the launch area, but you can hear nothing. No-one's talking. We're all under pressure - a lot of pressure," he said.