A: System Categories

GLONASS Gets Its Groove Back — 19 Satellites on the Air

[UPDATED Feb. 8, 2010] The Russian GNSS system, GLONASS, has brought its contingent of transmitting satellites back up to 19, as spacecraft launched in December and others off-line for maintenance have returned to healthy status.

Meanwhile,  Voice of Russia, the Russian government’s international radio broadcasting service, has reported that a monitoring station is being established at the Russian Antarctic outpost of Bellingshausen to track GLONASS  satellites. The orbital planes in the constellation are oriented so that GLONASS spacecraft pass over higher latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres than do the other GNSS systems.

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By Inside GNSS
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January 28, 2010

New LMCO SV Lab Will Support GPS IIIA Production

Inside the LM Space Vehicle Integration Laboratory. Lockheed Martin photo

Lockheed Martin has announced that its new Space Vehicle Integration Laboratory (SVIL) near Denver, Colorado, has achieved initial operational capability and is supporting the company’s satellite development program activity, including the production run of the next-generation GPS IIIA spacecraft.

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By Inside GNSS

ESA, Industry Sign Galileo FOC Contracts

Aerial view of ESA-ESTEC facility at Noordwijk, The Netherlands. ESA photo by A. Van Der Geest

René Oosterlinck, the European Space Agency’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities, and company representative signed the first three contracts for the Galileo full operational capability (FOC) phase on January 26. The event marks the official start of building the Galileo operational infrastructure.

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By Inside GNSS
January 21, 2010

U.S. Air Force Chief Warns against Over-Reliance on GPS

Gen. Norton Schwartz, USAF photo

The Global Positioning System is vulnerable to threats such as jamming and anti-satellite weapons and the United States should reduce its dependence on the system while developing alternatives for precise positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), the U.S. Air Force’s top military leader said Wednesday (January 20).

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By Inside GNSS
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January 19, 2010

National Weather Service Invites Comments on Ionospheric Data Products for GPS Users

SWPC U.S. Total Electron Count Map

The U.S. National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is inviting suggestions and opinions about the agency’s ionospheric weather products for the GPS constellation, today and on out through the next solar max, 2013–2014. Increased solar activity can magnify ionospheric scintillation and other phenomena that can affect the performance of GNSS receivers.

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By Inside GNSS

NaviForum 2010 Conference

Shanghai Exhibition Center

The Compass/Beidou 2 satellite navigation system will be the focus of China’s 2010 NaviForum.

It will be held from September 1 to 3 2010 in Friendship Hall at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, one of the landmarks of Shanghai. It was built in 1955 and named the "Sino-Soviet Friendship Building."

NaviForum will take place during the 2010 World Expo.

NaviForum will be incorporated into the Intelligent Transportation Systems conference, ITS Conference and Expo Shanghai. 

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By Inside GNSS
January 14, 2010

APEC GIT/14: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation GNSS Implementation Team Meeting

The 14th Meeting of the APEC Global Navigation Satellite System Implementation Team will be held at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, Washington USA from June 21-24, 2010.

Registration is open online at the web address below.

The last meeting held in Singapore tabled a draft strategy for 2010-15 that emphasized intermodal GNSS transportation applications. It will also serve as the focus of the Seattle meeting.

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By Inside GNSS
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