GPS III Contract Award Set Back
Okay, now it’s official: The GPS Block III contract award has been delayed from Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) to Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07).
By Inside GNSSOkay, now it’s official: The GPS Block III contract award has been delayed from Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) to Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07).
By Inside GNSSThe GPS program appears to be struggling on several fronts recently.
GPS III, the next-generation modernization project for the space and ground segments, is facing renewed uncertainty and possible schedule delays. At the same time, anticipated first launch of the follow-on block of satellites (Block IIF) with the new civil L5 signal has been postponed.
By Inside GNSSWithin weeks of a bilateral working group’s recommendation for a common civil GNSS signal design, the European Galileo and U.S. GPS programs have filed draft interface specifications (IS) or interface control documents (ICDs) for the new signals planned for the L1 frequency (around 1575 MHZ).
By Inside GNSSAn ad hoc working group has begun sorting through issues surrounding the recent formation of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG).
By Inside GNSSThe Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget proposal for the Department of Defense (DoD), announced in February, allocates $315,314,000 in advanced technology development for GPS, including work on the GPS III program. If approved by Congress, that would represent a sizable increase from the FY06 expenditures of more than $85 million and $33 million in FY05.
By Inside GNSSJapan launched its second Multi-Functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT-2) on February 18, opening a new phase of precision air navigation and air traffic control (ATC) over the western Pacific Ocean.
By Inside GNSSCivil GPS users now have a second full signal available to them — albeit on only one satellite and “at the user’s own risk” — courtesy of the first modernized Block IIR (IIR- 14M) spacecraft launched last September. And the world’s geodetic community is already moving to take advantage of it with announcement of an addendum to the receiver autonomous exchange (RINEX) format used to combine high-precision position data from different types of GPS receivers.
By Inside GNSS