A: System Categories

June 22, 2016

Senate Passes Defense Authorization Bill “Fencing Off” Funding for Next-Generation GPS Control System

The Senate approved defense authorization legislation last week before heading out for weekend campaigning. The measure contains a provision the White House said would further delay completion of the already overdue next-generation GPS control system (OCX) by 6 to 12 months.

Senators passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 on June 16, defying the White House, which had said June 7 it would veto the bill.

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By Inside GNSS

ION ITM – PTTI 2017: ION International Technical Meeting and Precise Time/Time Interval Meeting

South Monterey Bay

The Institute Of Navigation (ION) annual technical meeting (ITM) will be held in conjunction with the Precise Time and Time Interval Meeting (PTTI) at the Hyatt Regency Monterey in Monterey, California on January 30 through February 2, 2017.

This year’s joint ITM/PTTI Plenary Session: Back to the Future: Forecasts for Time and Navigation, 1917 and 2017 will explore significant forecasts made in 1917 about time and navigation and relate them to the future as we envision it from 2017.

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By Inside GNSS
June 15, 2016

Iridium-based System, Proposed GPS Backup, Incorporates Crypto Protections

A new satellite-based positioning and timing system now available from partners Iridium and Satelles incorporates layered security elements into a service that offers 20- to 50-meter unaided position accuracy worldwide and could serve as a GNSS backup, according to the companies.

The Satelles Location and Timing (STL) service, also offers microsecond timing accuracy, said Satelles CEO Michael O’Connor — and that can be improved with more advanced receivers.

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By Dee Ann Divis
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China Places 23rd BeiDou Satellite into Orbit

A Long March-3C carrier rocket carrying the 23rd satellite in the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on June 12, 2016. (Xinhua photo/Yang Zhiyuan)

China launched another BeiDou satellite on Sunday (June 12, 2016, local time) to support its GNSS constellation.

The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, was taken into orbit by a Long March-3C carrier rocket. It is the 23rd satellite in the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), a new-generation BeiDou-2 spacecraaft, and the seventh geostationary Earth orbit satellite (GEO) in the BeiDou constellation.

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By Inside GNSS
June 10, 2016

Here to Stay – Europe Committed to Long Haul in Space with Galileo

Lowri Evans, DG GROWTH. Photo by Peter Gutierrez

As ranking European Union (EU) official, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elzbieta Bienkowska set the tone in a keynote speech that anticipated some major issues to be addressed in the upcoming “EU Space Strategy,” the EUropean Commission’s next big new European space policy document, expected to come out later this year.

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By Inside GNSS
June 3, 2016

GSA Setting Up Galileo Reference Center Next Door to ESTEC

Officials signed an agreement this week to build a Galileo Reference Center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, just across the road from The European Space Agency’s European Space Research and Technology Center (ESA/ESTEC).

The Galileo Reference Center (GRC), to be administered by the European GNSS Agency (GSA), will monitor and assess the quality of the delivery of Galileo services, i.e., the performance of the Galileo Service Operator. The GSA is currently selecting said service operator through an arduous tender process.

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By Inside GNSS
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New GLONASS-M Survives Slight Glitch to Reach Orbit

Russia announced a successful launch of another GLONASS-M satellite on Sunday (May 29, 2016) despite an “irregularity” in the performance of the Fregat upper stage.

According to a report by the TASS state news agency, the Fregat operated longer than planned and used its engines to deliver the spacecraft safely into orbit. The Russian Defense Ministry’s press service reported earlier that a stable telemetry link had been established with the satellite and that onboard systems are functioning normally.

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By Inside GNSS
May 29, 2016

GNSS Hotspots | May 2019

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

Electronic Throwaways, Space X Wins, Drones at Sea and Shaking It Up

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By Inside GNSS
May 26, 2016

2016 ITS & LBS China Expo

A view of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center

The 5th International Intelligent Transportation System and Location-based Services expo will take place in Shenzhen (深圳), China on June 17, 18 and 19, 2016. It will take place in Hall 9 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in the city center.

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By Inside GNSS
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