Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Precise GNSS measurements have revealed that the severe drought gripping the western United States in recent years is changing the landscape well beyond localized effects of water restrictions and browning lawns, according to scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego.
By Inside GNSS
European Space Agency (ESA) and industry officials said today (August 23, 2014) that they are investigating Arianespace’s announcements about anomalies in the orbit injection of the Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellites launched Friday.
“Complementary observations gathered after separation of the Galileo FOC M1 satellites on Soyuz Flight VS09 have highlighted a discrepancy between targeted and reached orbit,” according to a Friday statement by Arianespace, which leads the industry team handline the launch of the first Galileo FOCs.
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel Inc. has announced the addition of the IMU-ISA-100C as an inertial measurement Unit (IMU) option for its SPAN GNSS+INS line of positioning products.
According to the company, the IMU-ISA-100C is a high-performance, near–navigation-grade IMU that provides a solution for platform stabilization, general purpose navigation, photogrammetry, remote sensing, and ground mobile mapping applications.
By Inside GNSS
After 20 years of discussion, conceptualization, political struggle, and technical reverses, Europe has placed its first two fully operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites into orbit today (August 22, 2014).
The Galileo 5 and 6 satellites were carried aloft on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 12:27 GMT (14:27 CEST, 09:27 a.m. local time). They join the Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites 1–4, one of which has been offline since May.
By Inside GNSS
Due to unfavorable weather conditions of the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace decided to postpone the launch scheduled for today (August 21, 2014) of Soyuz flight VS09 carrying Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites — and the first of the fully operational capability (FOC) spacecraft.
A tropical disturbance in the Atlantic Ocean nearing the Lesser Antilles (see NOAA satellite image) could potentially developed into a tropical depression or tropical storm.
By Inside GNSS
Members of Congress mapped out some rare common ground with both House and the Senate appropriators agreeing to not only fully fund nearly all elements of the GPS program next fiscal year but to add tens of millions to restore cutbacks in the procurement schedule for GPS III.
By Inside GNSS
The advantages of a digital navigation payload, a technology singled out by both the House and Senate for $20 million worth of research support, appears to be a key factor in the Air Force’s search for a new GPS III contractor.
The digital payload “is a direct complement to the Production Readiness Alternate Sources Sought released in June,” Air Force officials said in an emailed response to questions about the technology and how it fits into the ongoing search for new GPS III suppliers.
By Inside GNSS
General John E. Hyten became the 16th commander of Air Force Space Command, in a change-of-command ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado today (August 15, 2014), replacing General William L. Shelton.
General Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force Chief of Staff, presided over the ceremony.
By Inside GNSS
The European Commission (EC) has opened a public consultation on a newly revised version of the Galileo Open Service Signal in Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD).
The consultation will take place through September 22, overlapping the scheduled first launch of fully operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites on August 21. Details of the consultation process can be found on the EC Directorate-General for Enterprise website.
Universities must declare by August 22 if they will seek to lead a new federal research effort on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), a contest that is expected to be fiercely competitive despite the low level of funding guaranteed for the program so far.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) will host a workshop on September 18 to discuss implementation of a GPS Adjacent Band Compatibility (ABC) Assessment initiative.
The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (EGNOS) Service Provision Workshop will take place at the Conference Center Hotel Tivoli Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal on October 7-8, 2014.
The yearly meeting will present the improvements in the system and services for EGNOS stakeholders, users and applications developers.
The workshop agenda includes:
EGNOS Program Update
EGNOS Services Status
By Inside GNSS
[Updated September 18, 2014] The U.S. Air Force set GPS satellite SVN-68/PRN-09, launched on August 2, to healthy and usable last night (September 17, 2014). This brings the number of satellites transmitting the L2C signal to 14 and those transmitting the L5 signal to 07. The next GPS-IIF satellite, IIF-8/SVN-69, is tentatively scheduled for launch on Oct 29.
By Inside GNSS
