Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
President Obama has signed a continuing resolution, an omnibus federal spending measure that includes funding for the GPS program.
By Inside GNSS
1. LATE LAUNCHES
Cape Canaveral and Plesetsk
√ [updated April 1] After three delays, a single GLONASS-M satellite will go up from Plesetsk space center on April 26. The United States will send up SVN66, the fourth GPSIIF satellite— on an Atlas V launcher for the first time—during the early evening of May 15. It had been delayed from March.
Europe’s new age of satellite navigation has passed a historic milestone — the very first determina-tion of a ground location using the four Galileo satellites currently in orbit together with their ground facilities.
This fundamental step confirms the Galileo system works as planned.
By Inside GNSS
Working Papers explore the
technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and
applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
Deep military spending cuts set to kick in March 1 will likely slow efforts to modernize the GPS constellation, insiders agree, in large part because many of the personnel needed to push the program forward will be sitting at home, unpaid, one day out of every five.
The human impact of the deep cuts taking effect when sequestration kicks in on Friday was already evident in mid-February during the program review conference held by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
By Inside GNSS
Well, the lights work. So far, so good.
The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites has turned on power to the system module of the program’s first spacecraft, designated GPS III Space Vehicle One (SV-1).
According to the prime contractor, the achievement is a key indication that the team is on track to deliver the first satellite for launch availability next year, although the actual first launch will probably take place in 2015.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force GPS Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Califorinia, has awarded Lockheed Martin Space System Company a $62-million firm-fixed-price contract for GPS III Space Vehicles (SVs) 5 and 6 to be completed by June 30, 2017.
Funded under the federal Fiscal Year 2013 budget and announced February 8, construction will take place at the company’s facilities in Newtown, Pennsylvnia.
By Inside GNSS
A recently announced deal between the United States and the United Kingdom to revoke the UK’s surprise patents on a key GPS technology has a glaring omission: Intentionally left out of the agreement are patents on the European Union’s version of the technology, a signal structure important to enabling Europe’s Galileo system to work seamlessly with America’s GPS constellation.
By Inside GNSS
Navigation users may benefit from GPS modernization sooner than expected thanks to an apparent shift in the schedule of the modernized GPS ground control segment still under development.
The change means that full operational implementation of the new signals will come earlier in the delayed modernization of the operational control Segment (OCS).
By Dee Ann Divis
The world’s four GNSS programs aren’t exactly a classical quartet, weaving Mozart stanzas in disciplined execution.
By Inside GNSS
GPS contractors are scrambling to assess new Pentagon budget-cutting directives that have the potential to slow GPS modernization.
The belt-tightening is in response to a three-way fiscal vise created by the failure of Congress and the White House to agree on a budget for this year, on a new limit for the nation’s debt, and on a plan to implement future budget cuts.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force appears to have identified a future leader of the GPS Directorate.
At a time yet to be determined, Col. William T. "Bill" Cooley will take up the role of Senior Materiel Leader at the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition office for developing and producing GPS satellites, ground systems, and military user equipment.
By Inside GNSS
When European leaders first took up the idea of creating their own GNSS system nearly 20 years ago, they held up the concept of civilian control as a crucial differentiator from existing services operated by national military establishments.
As Galileo nears its operational phase, that principle may manifest itself in a surprising form: the opportunity to offer a range of security-oriented positioning and timing solutions in place of the all-or-nothing alternatives on encrypted services maintained by defense agencies.
By Inside GNSS
