GNSS Hotspots | November 2007

One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder.
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST

1. GOVERNMENT ACTION
President Bush has announced an end to Selective Availability (SA), the intentional degrading of open GPS civil transmissions. In a September 18 statement, Bush said he was adopting the recommendation of defense officials to eliminate the SA capability on future generations of satellites (see story in this issue).

1. GOVERNMENT ACTION
President Bush has announced an end to Selective Availability (SA), the intentional degrading of open GPS civil transmissions. In a September 18 statement, Bush said he was adopting the recommendation of defense officials to eliminate the SA capability on future generations of satellites (see story in this issue).

2. LAUNCH
√ The fourth modernized GPS Block IIR satellite (IIR-M) was successfully launched on October 17.

3. SIGNAL
√ A Russian official says that preliminary agreement has been reached to implement a CDMA-type signal on future GLONASS satellites (see story in this issue).

4. LAUNCHES
√ Russia’s next launch of three GLONASS-M satellites will take place as scheduled on October 25, but launch of the Galileo GIOVE-B spacecraft has been postponed until March due to the lack of a rocket module.

5. GOVERNMENT ACTION
European Commission reveals plan to build Galileo solely with public funds following the collapse of the Public-Private Partnership strategy. (see story in this issue).

6. CONFERENCE
√ The 39th annual (PTTI) Systems and Applications Meeting focuses on precise time and frequency technologies and their challenges.

7. CONFERENCE
√ The first official public presentation on China’s Compass/Bei Dou program is expected at the Shanghai Navigation Forum 2007 in December. The event is backed by the P.R.C. Ministry of Science and Technology and other authorities.

8. BRIGHT IDEA
√ Swedish technology group Hexagon AB offers to buy NovAtel, Inc. in deal valued at $391 million.

9. CONFERENCE
The Arab Institute of Navigation will host its biennial International Navigation Conference and Exhibition – MELAHA 2008 — April 13–15, 2008 in Hurghada, Egypt.

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