PARIS — Europe on Wednesday launched the first in a planned network of orbiters expected to make satellite navigation on Earth more precise, wider-ranging and free of U.S. control.

Test satellite Giove A shot skyward from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Four hours later it began transmitting the first test signals in a $4 billion rival to the U.S.'s Global Positioning System.

The American military network has grown around the world in recent years to reach civilian users ranging from commercial airline pilots to lost hikers. But the military retains control, and President Bush last year announced plans for temporarily disabling the network in a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using it.

"If the Americans want to scramble GPS, they can do it whenever they want," European Space Agency spokesman Franco Bonacina said. "Whereas our system is a civilian-based system run by a civilian authority and would be completely autonomous."

ESA and European Commission officials also say their system, known as Galileo and developed in cooperation with China, Israel and Ukraine, will be more precise than GPS and will more than double existing coverage to better reach higher latitudes and urban spots where skyscrapers now block signals.

Discussions are under way for India, Morocco, South Korea, Norway and Argentina to participate.

The EU and ESA will contribute $1.78 billion to the program, and the private sector will make up the difference in exchange for product development and other rights, Bonacina said.

Because of more advanced technology, Galileo will be precise within about a yard, compared with about five yards in the GPS system, Bonacina said.

The Galileo system should be operating by 2010, and consumers will be able to buy receivers that can switch back and forth between GPS and Galileo, Bonacina said.

French President Jaccques Chirac and EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot praised the program for benefiting both companies and ordinary citizens.

"Radionavigation based on Galileo will be a feature of everyday life, helping to avoid traffic jams and tracking dangerous cargos, for example," Barrot said Wednesday.

In orbit 14,300 miles above the Earth, Giove A — the name stands for "Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element" — will test atomic clocks and navigation signals, secure Galileo's frequencies in space and allow scientists to monitor how radiation affects it.

Wednesday's launch was scheduled for Dec. 26 but delayed because of a technical problem in the ground station. A second test satellite, Giove B, is to be placed in orbit this spring.

ESA says it will guarantee Galileo's operation at all times, except in case of "the direst emergency." It also says users will be notified of satellite problems within seconds.

The EU and the United States agreed last year to make Galileo compatible with GPS, ending a trans-Atlantic feud. Initially, the Pentagon criticized Galileo as unnecessary and a potential security threat during wartime, saying its signals could interfere with next-generation GPS signals intended for use by the U.S. military.

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On the Net: www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html