Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The GPS III SV03 fully assembled. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin.The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite in production flow at Lockheed Martin’s advanced satellite manufacturing facility in Denver is now fully integrated into a complete space vehicle.
GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03) followed the first two GPS III satellites on a streamlined assembly and test production line. Technicians successfully integrated the satellite’s major components – its system module, navigation payload and propulsion core – into one fully-assembled space vehicle on August 14.
By Inside GNSS
Air Force Space Command announced Wednesday it will begin the next phase of its plan to buy another 22 GPS III satellites in two weeks.
The November 22 posting on Fed Biz Opps (fbo.gov) said the highly anticipated Request for Proposals (RFP) would be released on or about December 7. The contract for the new space vehicles is "planned as a single, predominantly Fixed Price Incentive-type contract awarded via full and open competition for production of 22 GPS III SVs."
By Inside GNSS
The Global Positioning Systems Directorate, which is poised to launch its procurement of another 22 GPS III satellites, has given its next tranche of spacecraft a name.
"We are officially calling this GPS IIIF," Col. Gerry Gleckel, the Directorate’s deputy director, told the November meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board. "Just as there was a IIF that was the follow-on for the GPS II’s, this is the follow-on for the GPS III."
By Dee Ann Divis
The SORUS system, designed to enable user receivers to calculate Galileo PRS positions at predefined points in time including robustness against jamming and spoofing, picked up top honors at the 2017 European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC).
By Inside GNSS
Col. Steven Whitney, the director of the GPS Directorate. Air Force photo.Though lawmakers have made clear their interest in having U.S. military receivers incorporate European navigation signals, an agreement to use the encrypted Galileo signal remains elusive and the normal military requirements process could substantially delay implementation.
By Inside GNSS
Another milestone has been reached in efforts to showcase the many benefits improved satellite positioning can have on industries as the Australian Government launched a trial of Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for the Australasian region at an event at CQUniversity Australia’s Rockhampton campus.
By Inside GNSS
Photo Credit: ssuaphotos/Shutterstock.comEsterline CMC Electronics and NovAtel Inc. just announced a new strategic partnership, extending their collaboration in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning technology that started in the late 1990s. The partnership will see NovAtel’s industry-leading GNSS measurement technology integrated into a new Esterline CMC-designed multi-constellation, multi-frequency (MCMF) chipset for certified aviation use.
By Inside GNSS
Photo courtesy of GPS.gov. House and Senate authorizers are forcing a reorganization of the Pentagon’s management of military space programs, giving authority to a soon-to-be-named official to prioritize space budgets across services and setting planning in motion for a possible new department. They also approved spending the full amounts requested for the military GPS programs and mandated that defense officials both test a backup to GPS and look at incorporating European and Japanese GNSS signals into military user equipment.
By Inside GNSS
The advanced MDU on navigation payloads being delivered for GPS III Space Vehicles 1-10. Photo courtesy of Harris Corp.Harris Corporation has completed development of the company’s fully digital Mission Data Unit (MDU), which is at the heart of its navigation payload for Lockheed Martin’s GPS III satellites 11 and beyond.
By Inside GNSS
According to reports out of China, new, very accurate rubidium atomic clocks onboard two BeiDou-3 satellites launched into space on November 5 have greatly improved the accuracy of the system.
The country launched two BeiDou-3 satellites into space via a single carrier rocket to support its global navigation and positioning network at 11:45 UTC on Sunday (November 5). The satellites were aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket which took off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, according to the China Xinhua News Agency.
By Inside GNSS
The Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSPC) announced today that the United States Air Force has accepted delivery of the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX) Launch and Checkout System (LCS) baseline from Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems.
By Inside GNSS
Kenneth Hudnut will receive the 2017 Ivan I. Mueller Award for Distinguished Service and Leadership in December. Photo courtesy of Kenneth Hudnut.Kenneth Hudnut, a contributing writer and former columnist for Inside GNSS, will receive the 2017 Ivan I. Mueller Award for Distinguished Service and Leadership at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held December 11-15 in New Orleans, La. The award acknowledges “major achievements in service to and/or leadership within the field of geodesy.”
By Inside GNSS
